


The Law brought us together

by JTGodhelm



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn, Unresolved Emotional Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 06:08:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28862310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JTGodhelm/pseuds/JTGodhelm
Summary: Swanqueen Story. University. Our days. Regina Mills is the prettiest woman professor of Law and Management at the University or in Universe. Emma Swan is her charming student. But everything isn't that simple and predictable as it seems. What does Emma have to hide? Will Regina solve this mystery? Will this secret bring them apart or on opposite, bring them together? I hope, you will find it out. :) Enjoy.The characters aren't mine as much as the show of OUAT. The story itself is product of my fantasy.ANY REFERENCE TO LIVING PERSONS OR REAL EVENTS IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL.It's my first story here. So pls be nice. I'll be grateful for feedbacks, correction and soft criticism. I hope, you will enjoy it. Let's go! ^^
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan
Comments: 25
Kudos: 35





	1. Chapter 1

**~Chapter one ~**

Regina had a very bad day...

She had a fight with Robin last night and kicked the man out of her house. They had been dating for several years now. But none of them was ready to talk about engagement or marriage. They didn't even think of themselves as a couple. They both had their own tragic love story in the past.

Robin broke up with his wife after he caught her in bed with a banker neighbor. Now he has been fighting for sole custody of his only son.

Regina lost her fiancé in a car accident and was never able to recover from the loss, despite the fact that more than ten years had passed since Daniel's death.

She was unable to open up to Robin and often felt simply constrained and awkward in his presence. But this relationship with him was convenient for her. The man didn't insist on anything, didn't swear his love behind the grave to her, didn't dream of taking her down the aisle. They were just kind of drifted, trying to enjoy the company of each other, probably just for not being alone.

Regina was afraid to be left alone, so she resigned herself to the presence of a man who didn't suit her either in temperament or in education. The brunette was a professor at a prestigious international university. Robin worked at the local zoo.

They even met at the zoo!

Regina didn't remember why she had wandered into this menagerie. Probably because there were a lot of people there, and she just felt lonely and lost that day. She was walking in the park and somehow unnoticed for herself she faced the door of the zoo.

Nevertheless, after a little hesitation, she entered and continued her walk. At some point, she heard a childish laugh and involuntarily went to where she heard the funny giggling. This is how she met Roland, Robin's son, for the first time. And then she met the boy's father.

Sometimes it seemed to Regina that she had started dating a man only because of Roland, whom she loved to the moon and back. She always doted on children and dreamed of having kids with Daniel.

But then Daniel tragically died and her dream of motherhood died with him. But she admired Roland. He was so nice and sweet. He became a perfect escape for Regina, who recently more and more often caught herself thinking that she wanted to have a child. Only she didn't see Robin as a second parent.

If at first everything was fine with them, like all couples at the very beginning of a relationship, when passion and sex make up most of the mutual pastime, then after several months she increasingly began to notice how little they actually had in common...

Regina loved animals and nature, but she wasn't ready to listen to the stories about them or about zoo until the end of her days. And Robin didn't understand anything about international common law or business studies, which Regina taught at the university and which made up most of her life.

At some point, no topic left to discuss and Regina spent many evenings in silence next to Robin, who simply browsed through various sites with animals (which he really was just obsessed with!), while the brunette checked the essays and tests of her students. 

Yesterday's quarrel had been festering for a long time and it happened because of Robin's ex-wife... Not that Regina was jealous of her, although she had to hear a lot about the former Mrs. Locksley. But lately, Robin just stopped watching his language and began to speak rather unflattering and rudely about his ex, who not only filed for divorce, but also moved in with the very neighbor-banker whom Robin caught her with.

Regina had a terrible headache that day. She had to agree to replace Mrs. Nolan, who unexpectedly went on maternity leave ahead of schedule, after there was a real threat of losing her child. Of course, no official replacement for her had been found by that time, and Regina had to take her course in German law, because with Nolan they were not just colleagues, but also friends who studied together at the same faculty of international law.

Regina was genuinely happy for her friend, but she had no idea how she could handle so many hours of teaching. She sat all day going through the notes, curricula and instructional materials that Kathryn had made for the new academic year.

Regina's head was literally spinning... And when she returned home, she still had to listen to Robin's unflattering remarks and threats against his ex-wife. Robin was drunk. His aggressive behavior was the last straw in the patience of the brunette, who just wanted to go home and spend the evening by the large fireplace, sitting in a huge soft armchair and sipping a glass of expensive red wine, which she loved and yet rarely allowed herself to drink.

Instead, she had to listen to the abuse of an unselected bumpkin and she just exploded. Regina didn't remember much of everything they said to each other that night. But nothing pleasant or anything that could be easily forgotten.

Regina tried to behave impartially and patiently at first and just softly told Robin that both husband and wife are always to blame for the breakup. This statement infuriated Robin and he even swung at the brunette. Despite the fact that there was no blow, Regina also went into a rage and, after slapping the man in the face, literally pushed him out the door, ordering him never to return to her. 

After the fight, she couldn't sleep most part of the night. She wasn't upset that they got into a fight and broke up. She was simply too saddened by the fact that she had spent two years in vain next to a man whom she didnt love and who she no longer liked and respected as a person. It would be better if she has written a new book instead...

Having sent her former lover out, she overdid it a little with wine. And when she woke up this morning, she realized that she didn't need the last three glasses of vino. Or she just weaned of drinking this amount of alcohol.

It was like a big party in her mouth and everyone's throwing up... In the temples there was someone playing with a hammer, and the stomach squeezed into an unpleasant, painful knot...

With great effort, she reached the bathroom and took a cold shower, which helped her to cheer up a little and feel more alive. She even got a better mood. Unfortunately, it didn't last long.

The very moment she saw her Mercedes with a "bitch" scrawled on the driver's door, a wave of pure rage rolled over her. She wasn't going to leave such an immature act without punishment!!!

Regina called Graham, a childhood friend. The man worked in the police and was Daniel's best friend. Once long time ago, Graham had romantic feelings for his friend's fiancée. But Graham would never have dared to take the brunette away from his best friend, and Regina, although she knew about the feelings of a man, she never showed it. She has always loved only Daniel. Nothing has changed since his death...

Graham arrived quickly. He took a photo of Robin's act of vandalism, and advised the woman to obtain a restraining order against her former lover. Graham had to leave soon for another call, and Regina had to get to work by taxi. She couldn't appear in the parking lot with such a nicely “decorated” car. Although she knew that some underachieving students from her courses often called her a bitch or an **Evil Queen** behind her back. But such nicknames didn't bother her in any way.

And yet the last thing she wanted to do is to throw oil on that bonfire. She had to leave the car at the auto repair shop and take a taxi instead. In the end, she got to the university two minutes before the bell. Regina hated to rush. She always got up an hour earlier in order to go through the things she did in her daily routine every morning and to accentuate her natural beauty. She always drank hot coffee without sugar and milk. And only then she went to work. Today she was in a rush, but still was almost late for the first class anyway. She wanted to moan.

Well, why did she agree to replace Nolan? After all, it was her group that Regina was supposed to have her first class with. It's good that Regina had looked at Kathryn's notes earlier, so she knew the topic of the lesson. And she also watched the presentation. Yet Regina felt emotionally unprepared for the day. So she wanted to swear in pure frustration. But of course she didn't. Therefore, Regina just accelerated and literally burst into the lecture room.

Twenty-five curious eyes watched intently as she got to the teacher's desk and began to prepare to begin the class. Even if Regina was a little nervous because of these inquisitive gazes, she didn't show it outwardly. After all, she had a good endurance and nerves of steel, which were pleasantly combined with her strict, domineering character.

Opening the presentation, the brunette finally looked at a group of students who will have German law with her until the university finally provides an official replacement for Kathryn Nolan. She recognized some students from her own courses. She looked at their shocked faces with a well-concealed grin. They certainly didn't expect to see their professor of economics and business here. She still didn't know most of the students. 

"Hello, my name is Professor Mills and I am your new professor of German law."

A rumble rose in the room, the students were whispering. Most likely, those of them who already knew the professor from other courses, rushed to inform their fellow students that now the Evil Queen herself will teach them. Regina was sure that she had heard at least twice the unflattering epithet "bitch", but did not pay any attention to it.

During the years of teaching, she's heard that all before. But she knew her own value and knew that she always treated her students strictly but fairly... And those who didn't want to study or to make any effort to do well on their homework for her classes - well, they should blame themselves for falling out of favor with the professor and cope with well-deserved punishment and consequences.

Regina Mills did not like lazy people and never indulging them, no matter how powerful and wealthy their parents were. 

**⸞ ⸞ ⸞**

Surprisingly, the class went smoothly.

Of course, there were those on the course who only pretended to be trying to listen carefully to what the professor was saying. In fact, they were very busy doing their own thing, and someone even managed to communicate with notes, like in a high school. But after Regina caught several students doing that and forced them to read aloud the contents of the notes, no one else dared to exchange paper messages anymore. Or any kind of messages.

By the end of the lecture, most of the students managed to get involved in debates and discussions. Overall, Regina was pleased with the new course and its students. And yet she hoped that the discussions would become even more fiery and informative, despite the fact that this was a class of German law. But even here one could find enough reasons for debate. It was the Law, **after all!**

Regina was slowly packing her things into her purse. The class was over. She had her next lecture only an hour later. Therefore, she could do the things slowly and go without haste to the cafeteria and have a cup of coffee. The coffee at the university was disgusting, but still, it was better than nothing. Her body demanded its dose of daily caffeine, and she knew that if she did not satisfy this need, she would become simply unbearable and would earn her nickname that the students gave her a long time ago. 

By the time she left the room, all students had gone. Perhaps, that is why her attention was attracted by a couple of girls who were animatedly discussing something next to the lecture hall.

Usually, the professor wouldn't pay any attention to this. But one of the girls was her student. She was of average height and had long beautiful golden curls and an athletic figure. Regina drew attention to her already in her class, because the blonde was a real silencer and never said a word during the whole lesson.

Mills couldn't tell that the girl was inattentive. Not at all. The student seemed to be writing down her every word and was actively working with the information in the textbooks. She was also one of the few who brought a textbook with a set of laws on the German constitution. And if the professor considered it correctly, then the book was clearly in German.

Was the girl interested in German?

Or was she an exchange student from Germany? 

But now, hearing a heated conversation between the girls, Regina was sure that the mysterious student was clearly American and, if the woman wasn't mistaken, she was from Boston.

Regina slowly closed the door so that no one would notice that she was eavesdropping on what the girls were arguing about so intensely. 

“I don't do this anymore Nikki...” the mysterious blonde said flatly. “You can't demand this of me any longer. I won't be back. I'm sorry, but this is my final decision.” 

With these words, the student blew like a fury right past her professor. But she didn't seem to notice the teacher at all, she didn't even say goodbye to her...

Regina just stared at her in surprise, trying to understand what was going on and whether she should talk to the student, who obviously was very upset by the conversation. But the blonde disappeared so quickly that the professor didn't manage to say a single word...

Regina finally quickly closed the door and went to the cafeteria. She nodded in greeting to the blonde's interlocutor, who was still standing there and was in no hurry to leave, typing something with her smartphone and only glancing briefly at Regina. 

Mills was slightly upset that she couldn't find a bright shock of blond hair in the cafeteria. It meant that her student didn't go with everyone to the lunch room. Perhaps, she had no more classes today. Or she just hurried to the next one, which was in another building.

Anyway, Regina shook her head, trying to get the weird blonde out of her mind, and instead focused on scrolling through the material for her next lecture on Human Resources Management...


	2. Revenge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who reads this story and leaves feedbacks and kudos. You're the best! Happy Friday!

Regina came home and wearily kicked off her luxurious 10cm stiletto heels. 

She loved these shoes and never wore anything else. She only once wore sports sneakers when she severely dislocated her leg. These were three of the longest weeks of her life. She never wore shoes without heels again. Although, sometimes she had a strange desire to change her obsession with fashion and wear something more comfortable and ... well, boring. 

But this intention disappeared as suddenly as it appeared. 

Especially when in the morning she looked at her luxurious high-heeled sandals with a clasp. Tomorrow she will most likely have to abandon them in favor of something warmer, but no less elegant and impressive. 

She even knew what she would wear tomorrow: black patent knee-high boots for wide heels and with a gathered bootleg. Yes, she loved heels. 

And not at all because she could have hang-up  
about her small stature. Because she didn't have any inhibitions. 164 cm is not so little. Also, she always exuded such strength and authority that she could conquer even the most majestic giant. 

She was respected. And many were even afraid of her and for good reason. She could be truly tough and intimidating. Few dared to contradict her. And those daredevils who dared to do this regretted the false bravado almost instantly. 

Regina knew that at university and on campus, she had a reputation as the Evil Queen. But this did not upset her in the least. As long as people do what she wants, she is ready to be anyone. Her mother was a worthy teacher. 

Although, Regina would never admit it. Her mother was a cruel and domineering woman. She loved power and did everything possible to become even more powerful and influential. Even more, she loved to control everything and everyone. Especially if it was about her only daughter. Regina was a victim of her for a long time until she learned to quietly protest against her bossy mother. 

Over time, she learned to manipulate her own mother and became an unrivaled expert on power and control. Her only weakness was her love for Daniel, but when he was gone, she no longer had anything left to hurt her in any way. She became a true iron lady. 

Mom would be proud of her. If she hadn't died with her father in a terrible car accident ten years ago. Regina just graduated from university. Her parents weren't at her prom, instead, she had to organize their funeral. This was the last thing that could get to her world of emotions. She loved her father. But he was never strong enough to confront his wife and protect his daughter from her destructive influence. 

Regina did think he was both soft and weak. And yet, she loved him dearly. And with his death, something died inside of her, something warm and human that remained after her mother had processed her emotionally and psychologically. Her father and Daniel were her weak spot. There was nothing else in this world that could break her or hurt her again. And she was going to stick to this principle further. 

She liked it to be invulnerable, unattainable, and untouchable. Her relationship with Robin was a kind of entertainment for her, rescue from boredom and loneliness. But now it began to be a burden and seemed to her that the man was overacting. She could swear that she saw one of his friends, who followed her the whole way from the university to her house. Little John, that's what Robin called him, she recalled. Well, John wasn't a successful tracker or private detective he probably thought he was. 

To say Regina was furious would be an understatement. She could ask the police for help. But she preferred to deal with her problems in her own way. In a very subtle way. 

She will make Robin suffer. That's for sure. Fortunately, the man was very talkative, especially after sex. On one of those days, he told her something that she will certainly use against him now. And her clever revenge plan involves former Mrs. Locksley's, Marian. Robin Locksley must understand that he fought with the wrong person and acquired the enemy that he should avoid at all costs.

Regina walked into her cabinet. More precisely, in the former working room of his mother. Still and all, this was the home of her late parents. And if once upon a time she dreamed of running away from here and forgetting her past life, now she returned here with some masochistic pleasure. After all, everything in this house reminded her of why she had to stay strong. Anytime and anywhere. 

She took out an expensive carafe and lavishly filled her glass to half with cider. She loved this homemade apple liqueur. And she never denied herself the simpler pleasures of existence.

Watching the play of the light that was reflected in the amber liquid, she dialed the coveted phone number. Marion answered almost instantly as if expecting her call. Robin's ex-wife turned out to be smarter than her ex-husband. What a relief... 

Regina ended the call and put the phone aside with a sense of satisfaction. This her revenge was too sweet and she enjoyed every moment of it. 

For some reason, at the most inopportune moment, the face of a mysterious girl from her class surfaced in front of her inner gaze. She couldn't remember her name. And now she did not even know why she so wanted to know the name of her student. What was so special about her? 

Nothing, her inner voice answered. She just liked everything mysterious. Or she just didn't like secrets. And the girl seemed to have a lot of them.

Tomorrow she will try to find out her name. For starters. Until then, she needed to mark the students' works. Yes, she was just one of those professors who gave written papers to their students already in the first academic week of the new academic year. Of course, she had to spend most of her evenings marking these particular tests. Not that she minded it. What else could she do? Plus, there was an impact she had on students and their future. After all, giving them marks, she decided what kind of future they might have. Perhaps, she was taking too much on herself by thinking so. But she was never distinguished by false modesty, for she knew her worth. As well as her influence on others. 

Regina slept surprisingly well that night. Deep and carefree, as she hadn't slept in a long time. She even dreamed of something, but when she woke up, she could not remember what her dream was about. And it left a residue of incomprehensible anxiety ...

~~~

“Mr. Smith, 67 years old, married and has 2 children. His net worth is estimated at 3 million euros. He wrote his testament on the computer for better readability with the following wording:  
My last will:  
I hereby make my wife my sole heir.  
My kids should receive only their obligatory portion. Tom Smith.  
The statement was printed and signed by Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith dies, Mrs. Smith petitions in probate. Question: is Mrs. Smith the sole heiress? Mr. Jones?” - Regina looked at the student who used as much eyeliner as almost no woman ever used. Even when she loved to use dark shadows and eyeliner, all this gave her a daring, predatory look.

“I think yes. After all, it was his last will. I am sure that his family should respect and reckon with his wishes.” - Killian was pleased with his answer. He did not doubt the correctness of his answer. After all, he gave a very logical explanation. The guy looked at his professor with insolence - few people could resist his natural charm. Especially his stringy Irish accents. 

However, Professor Mills wasn't in the least impressed with his answer. She even seemed to be mad with him due to his response. Killian could see a vein on her forehead pound desperately. And for the first time in his life, Jones was really scared. 

He was not interested in the introduction to common law, but for this subject, he could get double the number of points and he couldn't help but be tempted to such an opportunity. But it seems he miscalculated about the teacher. 

The senior students weren't exaggerating when they called Regina Mills the Evil Queen. For some reason, from her icy gaze, he wanted to hide under his table. 

When the professor stopped burning him with her unbearably dark dangerous eyes and turned to the class for another opinion, Killian was finally able to exhale. Unbeknownst to him, he was holding his breath for that endless moment as Professor Mills studied him in detail, how the lioness examines her prey, before pouncing on it and killing it in one precise motion. 

“Does anyone else have any suggestions on this issue?”

Regina looked hopefully at the other students, who, for some reason, either preferred to look at their own hands or were enthusiastically writing something in their notebooks. None of them dared to look the disgruntled teacher in the eye. 

Regina had almost lost her hope of getting a competent answer when suddenly her gaze met the green eyes opposite. The mysterious stranger stared at the teacher and didn't intend to look away from her at all. Instead of giving the student a menacing look, Regina just raised her perfect eyebrow beautifully and gave her a defiant look.

“Miss…” Regina looked at her plan. - “Miss Swan? Is there anything you want to add to Mr. Jones's logical and predictable answer?”

“Actually, yes.”- Emma was not in the least frightened or hunched over under the mocking gaze of the law professor. On the contrary, the student's eyes burned with challenge and obstinacy. Regina didn't know if she liked it or not. 

But it was certainly quite interesting and entertaining. 

"§2247 paragraph I of the Civil Code states: (1) the testator may draw up a will with a handwritten and signed statement.  
(2) the testator must indicate in the application at what time (day, month, and year) and in what place he wrote them down.  
(3) the signature must contain the name and surname of the testator. If the testator signs the other way and if this signing is sufficient to establish ownership of the testator and the seriousness of his statement, it is the signing does not contradict the fact of the will.  
(4) the one who is a minor or cannot read what has been written, cannot draw up a will in accordance with the above rules.  
(5) If a will made following paragraph 1 does not contain an indication of the time of establishment and as a result, there is a doubt about its validity, then the will is considered valid only if the necessary conclusions about the settling time can be made differently. The same applies to a will, in which there is no indication of the place of establishment. The original question of whether Miss Smith was the sole heiress is highly controversial. The will was not written with his own hand. The only proof of its authenticity is the signature of the deceased. There is also no record of the day, place, and year when the will was made. In my opinion, Mrs. Smith can't be the only heiress. Her children can also claim a share in the inheritance. I want to say that this case is very controversial. And it is very difficult to foresee who will be right at the end." 

The blonde fell silent. The professor looked at her in surprise. She did not expect that the student would be able to answer this question, let alone corroborate her answer with an excerpt from the civil law code. 

"Very well, Miss Swan." - Regina really was impressed by the response of a student who was now even more intriguing for her. Professor Mills was never interested in the students as she was interested in one particular blonde. Now that she knew what was her name, there was little that could stop her from reading her file. 

For a moment Regina looked closely into Emma Swan's eyes, momentarily lost in the green twinkling of her gaze. But then she found the strength to continue teaching as if nothing had happened. 

For the rest of the lesson the professor never faced the attentive eyes of her student, which served high hopes to become a better student of hers, if, of course, she will continue to study well for her classes. 

The blonde was the first to leave the audience as soon as the bell rang. 

Regina could not do anything, but to look after her, for some unknown reason, noting for herself the fragility and slenderness of Emma Swan's figure and her terrible red leather jacket, which for some reason looked quite elegant and attractive on her. 

Regina was completely intrigued by her student, and a strange feeling unpleasantly tickled her nerves, depriving a certain amount of control. Professor Mills didn't like losing control...


	3. Robin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone. Thank you so much for reading my story. It means a lot to me. You're the best.  
> Due to my work and study, I can't post regularly and much. But I hope, that you still will enjoy it. Have a great week.

Regina was enjoying her little revenge on Robin, her call depriving him of all opportunities for sole custody of his son. Now he could see his son only on weekends, twice a month, and only in the presence of his ex-wife and social worker. 

Only Regina hadn't considered how crazy and desperate her former lover really was. 

Two days have passed since her call. All this time, Robin tried to find out how Marian got access to the information that deprived him of custody of his son. And in some of those few moments of enlightenment, he realized Regina's involvement in his failure. 

Regina was sitting in her own office in the law department when the door to the office swung open, banging hard against the wall so that the attachment practically flew off its hinge. 

Regina flinched in surprise and inadvertently knocked over the glass of wine she'd been enjoying for the past few minutes marking students' papers. The red stain slowly spread over the snow-white sheets, covered with the neat handwriting of Emma Swan. 

If Regina saw this, it would certainly triple her rage. But at that moment she just stared in shock at the bumpkin who burst into her office. A very angry and insane person. 

Before she could say a word, some invisible force lifted her into the air and pushed her against the wall behind the desk. If she turned her head to the left, she could see the students and their teachers scurrying around the student yard. But the hand that dug into her throat and put a stranglehold on her neck, blocking the access of oxygen. 

She had no choice but to cling to the merciless fingers, which slowly and inevitably deprived her of consciousness and life. She looked at Robin's rescued eyes, bloodshot and filled with a thirst for revenge and blood. 

And the only thing she regretted was that this bloodthirsty look would be the last thing she would see in her life. 

Just as the world was almost plunged into darkness, the hand gripping her throat suddenly disappeared and Regina almost suffocated from the surge of fresh air that burst into her lungs. She was very dizzy and couldn't stop coughing. But overall, she was fine. Shocked and confused, but not for long.

At some point, she was able to get up and take a sitting position on the cold floor. Just in time to see the guards lead Robin away. It seems that he got sound hiding because he could barely walk on his own. If she could get up, then in this case Locksley would definitely have to be carried away on a stretcher. More precisely, his breathless corpse. But she's still weak and vertiginous. She didn't even have the strength to stand up. 

Suddenly, a blurry face appeared right in front of her. Regina blinked to focus. When she opened her eyes again, she met the gaze of green eyes that were looking at her with undisguised concern. 

"Emma?" The blonde's name was just a hoarse whisper that escaped her dry lips.

"Quiet Regina, it's okay." - Emma put her hands on the shoulders of the professor, not allowing the latter to fall on her side. 

Regina looked into those emerald eyes that gave her hope and protection. She, more than ever, was glad to see the girl. She shuddered when the blonde gently touched her cheek, and only then the woman realized that she was crying. She never cries. But she has never been as close to death as she was just a few minutes ago. Even her mother was unable to harm her as she beat her in the past until she lost consciousness. But even then, she didn't feel as defenseless and vulnerable as she does now.

Regina tilted her head until she touched the girl's shoulder, inhaling the scent of cinnamon and something floral, which was most likely the shampoo the blonde was using. 

She gasped as the student pulled her closer to her so that Regina bumped into the warm skin of the girl's neck. Now she was sitting on the lap of the younger woman, but, oddly enough, she didn't feel out of place, didn't feel confused or constrained. She felt ... protected and ... That other feeling she couldn't recognize yet, but it was definitely something good. Maybe it was gratitude? Maybe she felt grateful to the girl for being with her? 

Be that as it may, she hugged the girl in return and snuggled up to her strong, young body. 

She didn't want to be alone now.   
And this wasn't just caused by an unexpected attack, but by the fact that she began to enjoy spending time in the company of her student. It was like that, and not otherwise ...

~~~ 

The girls had to break off their hug when the paramedics arrived. Despite all of Regina's objections, she was nevertheless taken to the hospital for further examination. Dean Gold insisted on this, who, of course, found out about the incident. Mills had to obey. 

She didn’t even remember being accompanied. But she was grateful to the blonde for sitting next to her, now and then not allowing the professor to remove the oxygen mask from her face.

Emma spoke to the ambulance workers as if they were old acquaintances. This made Regina frown. Something bad stirred inside her. Something vaguely similar to ... jealousy? But, it was simply impossible. She could not be jealous of her student to anyone else. She didn't even know her. A few things rightfully couldn’t bring them close enough that Regina was now so angry just at the way one of the paramedics looked at Swan. But when the guy put his hand on the girl's upper arm just above the elbow, she felt her own fingers clenched into fists so tightly that her knuckles turned white. 

She almost freed herself from the oxygen mask to get up, but then Emma focused her attention on her again, straightened her mask, and no longer took her eyes off her professor. Which satisfied Regina completely. For now!

At one point, she closed her eyes to rest a little and gather strength, as she planned to escape from the hospital as soon as possible. 

She didn't like hospitals. She constantly reminisced about the day she rushed to the hospital after a police officer called her and told her that her parents had a terrible accident. 

She was on her way to the hospital to take care of her mother and her father. Instead, she had to start organizing their funeral. 

And now all the old memories of that day fell on her. And for some reason, it became difficult to breathe. Her eyes began to darken again, but she tried to breathe deeper so as not to collapse into a faint. Then the doctors would certainly not let her go home any time soon, as she hoped. 

Regina thought they would have to wait a while to   
be seen by health professionals. But surprisingly, the doctor showed up almost instantly. He first talked quietly about something with Emma. Probably asked her about what's happened. The girl was confident in the presence of the doctor. Regina watched with admiration the blonde's proud bearing, her confident movements, and her even voice. Regina couldn't really hear the conversation. But Emma's tone of voice was very reassuring to her. 

The woman was so immersed in her own thoughts and observations that she did not notice that now the doctor was standing in front of her and began a series of tests to determine the possible consequences of suffocation.

Regina was shocked when she learned from the doctor that she had been unconscious for a moment during the strangulation. The professor was sure that she didn't lose consciousness until the very end. She probably just didn’t notice it. 

Another news shocked her. Emma Swan was her personal savior, for it was she who then burst into Regina's office and dragged Robin away from the brunette, knocking out the enraged forester with one precise blow. 

Regina didn't remember all of this. Probably, everything happened when she lost consciousness. Because she only remembered how the university guards dragged Robin out of the room, and almost simultaneously her student appeared next to her. 

As it turned out, Emma saved her life.   
If she did not face an angry stranger in the half-empty corridor of the university, it is unlikely that the guards managed to come to her rescue time. 

~~~

They were driving quietly in the taxi…

After the doctors did a bunch of medical tests and made sure that everything was fine with the brunette, she was finally allowed to leave the hospital and return home. But with the proviso that Regina won't be alone tonight. She had to be monitored and supervised, in case there were any belated consequences of asphyxiation. 

Regina was about to protest angrily that she didn’t need a babysitter, when in fact she had no one to look after her. Only a brunette would never admit it. 

But before the woman could break out in an angry tirade, Emma's hand touched her shoulder soothingly and she said that Regina would be under her supervision that night. The professor did not even have time to object, as everything was already decided for her. 

So they ended up in a taxi halfway to the Mills mansion. They didn't speak to each other. What could two practically strangers communicate about, when one of whom miraculously escaped death, and the other became her unexpected savior? About nothing! 

Regina closed her eyes. The events of that day, and the three glasses of wine she had drunk before the attack, pretty much wore her down. At some point, she just fell asleep, resting her head on Emma Swan's strong shoulder. 

She didn't even wake up when the taxi stopped by her house, when Emma looked in her purse for the keys to the front door, or when the girl carefully carried her fragile sleeping body to the second floor. She only opened her eyes for a moment as her body sank into the softness of her mattress. But when the girl covered her with silky sheets, the brunette had already fallen asleep again. 

~~~

By the time Regina woke up the next day, it already grew light outside. The woman rarely woke up after 7 am and then only on weekends. Therefore, she was very surprised to realize that it was already 10 a.m. 

Apparently, yesterday's events exhausted her more than she thought. Oddly enough, she slept without nightmares. (After that, it would be normal to have nightmares, right?!). Regina stretched contentedly and finally got out of the invitingly warm bed. Her head was still a little dizzy, the brunette grabbed the back of the bed so as not to fall. The eyes automatically closed to fight away from a slight attack of dizziness and nausea. For some reason, the left side of her face hurt. Especially the left temple. When the slight discomfort had passed, Regina went to the large bathroom mirror and winced at the huge bruise that slowly spread along the left side of her face, starting from the temple, then under the left eye, and stopping in the middle of the cheek. Yeah, her hematoma was impressive. 

And how had she to go to work with such a bruise ?!  
Regina didn't remember being punched in the face by Robin. She probably hit when she fell to the floor after she managed to escape from the clutches of her former lover. 

After washing her face with cold water, she returned to her room. The events of yesterday were a blur in her mind, especially everything that happened after the attack. The last thing she remembered was the trip to the hospital. 

But how she ended up at home in her bed, she did not remember. Suddenly, the image of a golden-haired student surfaced in her memories, one after another, began to form a single whole, like pieces of puzzles of one picture. She recalled that at some point in the hospital the police officers appeared to ask her some questions about what had happened and to get a witness testimony from Miss Swan. She vaguely remembered her conversation with the detectives. But she did remember exactly how the woman detective had told her that Emma Swan had saved her life. It was she who tore the distraught Robin away from her and pushed him away, knocking him out with one precise blow. 

Regina was shocked and impressed that a fragile girl like Emma was able to handle an angry person at least a head taller than her without batting an eye.   
Mills couldn't stop admiring her student, this fascination and charm of the younger woman grew in her with every moment, with every new thought about the blonde. 

Only a few people could so quickly arouse such admiration and respect in her. But Regina could feel her attraction to Emma grow with each passing day. 

Regina remembered looking at the student's personal file the day before. She had her privileges due to a close acquaintance with the dean of the university. The woman was surprised at how little information there was about Emma Swan. Originally from Boston, she graduated from school there. Got married. There was no information about her husband and children. Also, there was no information about what the girl was doing after college and until she enrolled in the university at the faculty of Professor Mills. 

Regina stared thoughtfully at the student's file. She was even more intrigued by the girl now.

Who is she? What does she try to hide? Where does so much mystery come from? 

Regina winced. The headache became even worse, it became difficult to ignore this painful throbbing in the temples. The brunette reached for the bedside table to get the painkillers, which she always kept close to hand because of her frequent migraine attacks. Suddenly she saw two pills and a glass of water on the nightstand. There was a small note next to them.   
Regina immediately recognized Emma's neat handwriting. 

"Professor Mills, 

I hope you are feeling better today. You will most likely wake up with a severe headache, please take the pills on the bedside table, you will feel better right away. At night I tried to put some ice bags on your bruised face. But bruising is still inevitable. Continue keeping ice on your face for the next 24 hours. This is the recommendation of your doctor, Dr. Whale. Dr. Whale ruled out eye injury: tearing of the optic nerve or retinal tear, detachment from the choroid. But if today or later you notice any changes, please contact your doctor immediately. Dean Gold asked you to stay at home for a few days. You just need to send students assignments for self-study. If you send assignments to my electronics, I can send mass mailings for you. Below are my email address and telephone number. You can write to me at any time if you need anything. Get well soon,   
Emma Swan “

Regina suddenly realized she was smiling stupidly as she stared at the note. She was touched by the girl's concern. The latter stayed with her all night long and left before the brunette woke up. Well, of course, Emma was a student and she had classes. To which she went even after a sleepless night. It is unlikely that she could be absent or excused from lectures just because she spent the night in the role of her professor's nurse and babysitter. 

But as much as Regina argued with herself, she couldn't stop smiling. She also immediately saved Emma's phone number, although she did not plan to write to her. But all the same, she kept the cherished numbers - just in case. 

But she sent Emma assignments by right with gratitude for sending the material to the rest of the students in the group. 

She slept through the rest of the day, awakening only to a hungry belly rumbling. Recalling that the last time she ate something was during a lunch break the previous day, she quickly grabbed a light salad and was glad that she was almost not feeling sick. 

She fell asleep hoping that tomorrow her health would stabilize and she would be able to return to work before the end of this week. And the bruise could be well hidden under a skillfully applied layer of makeup.


	4. Surprise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks guys for reading this and for following the story. I wish you a great start into the new week. 
> 
> I became a little bit paranoid today since we're in lockdown and they are patrolling the streets with the helicopter. Is it a reason to get in a panic? 
> 
> Well, I hope I get it wrong. :)
> 
> Enjoy the reading.

Regina tried to focus all her attention on her lecture. 

That wasn't so easy for her, because her thoughts were elsewhere. She could't get out of her mind the only message she wrote to Emma a few days ago. More precisely, she wrote it on the first night she spent alone at home after Robin's attack. She had nightmares that night. At some point, she woke up from another nightmare and realized that she could no longer sleep. Instead, she wanted someone to talk to. 

Not just to anyone - why palter with the truth - but to her savior, whom she could no longer get out of her mind. She beat her brains for a long time over what to write to her student. In the end, in order not to risk it, she decided to simply send thanks for her salvation and for the fact that the girl sent out the assignments for the next lesson to her fellow students. 

The answer came almost instantly. As if Emma never parted with her phone for a minute. Well, of course, she was also a student, mobile phones were melted into their palms and became part of their body. But oddly enough, Regina didn't judge the girl, she was glad for her almost immediate response. 

" _ I'm glad I was able to be in the right place at the right time, Professor." _

Regina couldn't argue with that. 

That night, the woman didn't write anything more to the blonde. But she really wanted to continue chatting with her so badly. She looked at the girl's reply message for a long time, continuing to smile, until she fell asleep with a happy smirk on her face. 

The next day, she repeatedly opened the messages she exchanged with her student with the desire to write a new message. But every time she constantly put away the phone, irritated by her own behavior and needs. She couldn't understand why she was so desperate to continue to communicate with Emma Swan. 

Thoughts about her were already becoming an obsession. A glamor that she should have avoided at all costs. 

So Regina focused on the lesson, avoiding meeting the inquisitive green eyes. And she almost managed it. 

If not for some strange movement in the back rows of the classroom. Someone very desperate decided to disregard the rules of discipline, for violations of which he will certainly be punished. Imagine her surprise when she saw Mr. Jones chatting with none other than ... Emma Swan. Something nasty and dangerous stirred inside Regina at the sight of this modern pirate trying to charm HER Emma with his Irish accent. 

"Mr. Jones, do you have something to tell us?" the professor's voice sounded almost neutral, but very dangerous. 

Only an idiot could ignore this well-veiled threat. 

To her deep regret, Killian wasn't a fool. She would gladly have trampled him down like some mischievous miserable insect. For daring to come close to what was HERS. 

"Not at all, Professor Mills. Sorry." Killian gave professor his best fake apology smile. 

"This was my last warning to you, Mr. Jones."

Regina was not fooled by this cute grimace. And only the apologetic look of green eyes saved the pathetic excuse of the pirate from the wrath of the Evil Queen. 

Regina continued the lecture, but her gaze kept returning to the blonde, who no longer tried to talk to Killian. Emma studied her professor, as if she wanted to know all her deepest secrets. And the woman felt the danger emanating from these eyes and at the same time she was captivated and fascinated by this gaze. 

The rest of the lesson passed in a daze. Regina breathed a sigh of relief when the bell finally rang. All students rushed out of the classroom, each on their own business. Everyone except Killian Jones and Emma Swan. The latter tried to put her study supplies in her backpack while her fellow student was enthusiastically telling her something. He wanted to attract the attention of the blonde, but she was little interested in the stories of a careless suitor. And when Emma dropped her notes on the floor, Regina decided to step in. 

"Miss Swan, can I have one word for you, please?"

The woman put on the most severe expression, which completely suppressed any desire for objection from the pirate or his desire to stay in the classroom any longer. This time, Killian took the hint and quickly walked out of the room, leaving two women alone. 

Emma was still collecting her notes and did not look up at her professor, who was watching the younger woman with childish curiosity. 

Regina bent down and picked up a few notes that lay around at her feet. One particular sheet caught her attention. It was her portrait. Very nicely drawn one. Emma managed to correctly convey the thoughtful expression on her face. The blonde even endued her appearance with some dreaminess and mystery. Did she see her this way? Calm and beautiful?

Not the Evil Queen as everyone saw her?

Regina tore her gaze from the picture and looked at Emma, who was looking at her embarrassedly with some precaution in her eyes, as if she was afraid that the woman would be angry with her. 

"I ... I drew this ... i didn't do this in class." Emma shyly fiddled with the strap of her leather backpack, refusing to look her professor in the eye. If she looked, she would see the most sincere and beautiful smile, albeit such a small one. 

Regina hadn't smiled like that in a long time. The muscles of the face were unaccustomed to this kind of exercise. 

Yet she couldn't stop smiling. 

"I really hope you don't paint in your law class, Miss Swan." Regina spoke in her best villain voice, but her eyes continued to smile. 

"Of course not." Emma looked at her with her impossible green eyes. And Regina drowned for a moment in this green pool. 

Not noticing what she was doing, she took a step forward, thus invading the blonde's personal space. And to her surprise, Emma didn't step back. Regina could feel her minty breath on her face. Light, barely perceptible, but so undeniable. 

"I'm glad to hear it." Regina stepped back, though. Despite the fact that she was drawn to take this last step, that separated them from each other and...

She didn't know what she would do if she nevertheless approached her studentl. But that could be something that would ruin her reputation and her career as a professor. Her power and her curse. 

She didn't want to be a professor. She wanted to be an actress. But her mother didn't accept her choice and instead left her with a choice: to lead a miserable life of a vagabond, because she will become the one if Cora throws her out of the house and deprives her of money; or to become what her mother wanted her to be. And Regina relented. Back then she wasn't yet strong enough to resist her mother. And then the incredible happened: she fell in love with what she was doing. Her mother might not have been so wrong about her professional career, but she was wrong about everything else. 

"My drawing?" Emma nodded at the piece of paper that Professor Mills still clutched in her hand. 

"And this will stay with me." Regina answered and winked at the girl. Then she took her purse off the table and walked out of the classroom, leaving a baffled student behind. 

~~~

**"Are you always in the right place at the right time, Miss Swan?"**

Regina sighed with disappointment and resignation after realizing that she had indeed sent this message to her student. Again. She lost the battle with herself. She wasn't supposed to continue this chitchat with her. She avoided it the entire working week, marking the tests of her students, writing new lesson plans. 

But the weekend came and the professor didn't know what to do with herself in order to distract herself from the annoying, persistent desire to write to Emma. 

On Saturday morning, she woke up early. She had her favorite - croissants - as her breakfast, which she allowed herself to eat only on Saturdays in order to protect her slim figure and lead a healthy lifestyle. After breakfast, Regina turned to gardening, tending to her apple trees and exotic roses. 

It was a little past afternoon, and she had nothing else to do. She even tried to read a book, but dropped it after rereading the same sentence for the last ten minutes. 

She was sitting in her office with a glass of cider in her hand, and it was then that the desire to write to the girl became irresistible. And she gave up, now fearfully awaiting an answer from her student. 

Will Emma find her behavior annoying or unacceptable? Will she report her? 

_ Well, now it was too late to think about it.  _ The brunette thought and drained the glass in one gulp, immediately pouring a new portion of alcohol. 

_ The last thing she needed was to get drunk. _

Ten minutes passed. The ten longest minutes of her life, which she spent waiting for a response from the blonde. 

When the phone alerted her about a new message, Regina almost burst into tears of relief. And then she burst out laughing heartily after reading the message from the blonde. 

The message consisted of a funny GIF depicting a mouse in a superhero costume with the words 'my hero' written on it. Under the picture, Emma wrote,

_ "You are my first professor I was privileged to save." _

**"So are you my personal savior now?"**

Was she flirting with … with her student? 

No, of course she was not doing such a thing. She was just ... talking. Yes.

It was just so easy to communicate with Emma. 

She had an easy sense of humor, she didn't impose on Regina in any way after saving her professor from the reprisal of her former lover. But previously Regina had unconscious fears that Emma would take advantage of her special status as her rescuer, which allowed her to be closer to her professor than anyone else. 

It seemed that everything was exactly the opposite: Regina couldn't get her savior out of her mind and couldn't stop their close acquaintance with the girl. She only hoped that the blonde wouldn't find her behavior intrusive and unpleasant. What if Emma just answers her because she wants to be polite and doesn't want to ruin her relationship with the Evil Queen?

Regina felt cold inside at that thought. 

But she didn’t have time to be really scared, because the reply came almost instantly. 

" _ I guess that's what they might call me. But I'm not a savior, your salvation was just a lucky coincidence." _

Was Emma trying to be humble? Or did she really not understand that if she hadn't been near her office that day then Professor Mills would not have been alive now? 

Regina thought that she liked even this unnecessary modesty of the girl. 

Like she liked everything about her student. And yet she decided not to deepen this topic so as not to embarrass her savior once again. 

**"What else do you do when you're not trying to save your professor?"**

Regina stared at the phone screen and breathed a sigh of relief when three small dots reappeared, signaling that the blonde was typing her answer. 

_ "I love drawing ;) reading detective stories and going on a hike. I love nature and the opportunity to spend the night in a tent by a huge campfire." _

Regina smiled as she remembered the drawing of the girl that she now had on her home desk. The blonde definitely had a talent, although the latter didn't want to admit it. 

Regina winced, imagining herself in a tent, at night, surrounded by tall trees, with all the animals that could crawl at night and climb into this very tent while she was asleep... brr. But for some reason, the idea of being there alone with Emma did not seem so repulsive to her. Quite the opposite. She could clearly imagine the strong embrace of a blonde girl that would hold her in her strong arms all night long. 

The woman shook her head, trying to get rid of unnecessary thoughts and fantasies. 

She was about to type a reply as Emma began to write something again.

_ "What are you interested in, Professor Mills?" _

Regina bit her lip, pondering her answer and not knowing what to tell about herself so as not to seem boring or too frank. All the same, she did not know the girl. Her mother always said that no one is interested in another person just like that. There is always a reason. And unfortunately, in Regina's experience, for her such interest from anyone else never ended well. Therefore, it was very difficult for her to open up to an unfamiliar person, even the one that saved her life. 

**“I love looking after my apple trees…”**

Regina immediately deleted the message, Emma might have thought her professor was some old housewife who liked to poke around in her garden. Not that it was any kind of condemnation. Not at all. Regina was just not like that. She just liked her apple trees, because for her they were a symbol of strength and endurance. These trees, like their fruits, could withstand a lot. And this made the brunette admiring them. But it’s unlikely that Emma would have thought of something like that when she had read the message from Regina. 

“ **I like making cider…”**

The brunette immediately rejected this option as well. She didn’t want the girl to think that she was a lonely alcoholic who secretly makes homemade alcohol. 

**"I love torturing my students and spend my free time looking for the best ways to make them annoyed and suffer."**

  
  


Regina was pleased with the message and confidently hit the send button. 

It is unlikely that Miss Swan believed this confession. But at least it was humorous. Although Cora always said that her only daughter had a very bad sense of humor though. 

_ "So Professor Mills aka the Evil Queen isn't just a fiction? Cool! How can I get on the favorites list?"  _

Was the blonde flirting with her?

Regina chuckled slyly as she typed out the answer. She didn't even notice that for the first time in her life, the title of the 'Evil' Queen didn't feel sad in her heart. 

**"Miss Swan, who told you that you were not among the chosen few? You top this list."**

_ "Glad to hear that. I want to give you something that, as a Queen, you might find very interesting." _

**_"_ ** **Is this a gift?"**

_ "It's a surprise." _

**"What kind of surprise?"**

Regina was quite intrigued. 

_ "A surprise is therefore called a surprise, because no one knows what it is until a person receives it and opens it.;)" _

**"Miss Swan, tell me immediately what you are up to!!!"**

It should be said that the brunette didn't like to wait. 

Yes, and she had no positive surprises in her life.

" _ Weren't you told that patience is the key to the victory and opens even the most forbidden doors?" _

**"Miss Swan, patience is not my strong point. And every patience has a measure. And now this measure has been achieved! What are you up to?!!"**

But in response, Emma only sent her some coordinates where Regina was supposed to be in an hour. 

The professor was angry, although she could not understand why. Either from the fact that the girl didn't tell her what she was up to. Or because in this situation the woman had no control, because all orders came from her ... student! What does this girl think of herself? So that a respected teacher would rush to no one knows where, no one knows why, by someone's whim?! 

"Aha, like hell I am!!!" thought Regina, practically flying into her own bathroom. Fifteen minutes later, she was already purposefully walking towards her black Mercedes, writing down the coordinates in Google Maps. 

The destination was to be ... a library ??? 

And how was she supposed to find her present in such a huge storage of books? 

"Emma Swan, I will rip your heart out if this turns out to be some kind of prank." Regina made an oath to herself. 

  
  


There were very few people in the student library on Saturday afternoon. Only the most desperate and diligent students sat at huge wooden tables or wandered among the shelves of books in search of the necessary literature. The fact that Regina was in the library shouldn't have surprised anyone or provoked unnecessary gossip. After all, she was a professor. Except she never went to libraries on Saturdays. 

Regina put her usual stern, almost haughty look on her face and looked around, almost immediately meeting a young brown-haired woman's gaze. The girl looked at her curiously. A friendly smile played on his lips. The professor could not remember where she could meet the dark-haired girl. But they have definitely met before. 

The brown-haired woman slowly approached her, her smile faltering a little as she stopped in front of the professor. 

"Professor Mills, hello. My name is Belle and I'm a librarian. Let me walk you to the right section."

Regina didn’t answer, only arched a beautiful eyebrow and nodded in agreement. For Belle, this was enough so she immediately rushed in a certain direction. 

Regina walked leisurely behind her, looking around and trying to remember the way back from this book maze. She was always able to orientate herself well on the terrain and hoped that this time she would succeed brilliantly as well. After all, she was not going to acquire a compass.

After a while, the women found themselves in a rather abandoned part of the library, the existence of which Professor Mills didn't even know. She just hoped it wasn't a torture room. The air in this section was somewhat musty. Most of the shelves were filled with old newspapers, some of them were professionally laminated, others were under glass, and others were piled high on the huge shelves. The lighting in the room was very poor and dim. It is not surprising, with such huge heavy antique curtains that were hung on all the windows. 

“The natural light here is weak to keep the newspapers from fading. Soon we will scan them all electronically and laminate them to perpetuate the printed information. And then this section will be officially open to the public. While we are doing the restoration with the help of volunteers. Dean Gold promised us help. " Belle spoke rather enthusiastically. 

Regina listened to her half-way until the girl mentioned the dean's name. At that moment, the brunette remembered why the librarian seemed so familiar to her. She was the same student with whom Mr. Gold had an affair while the man was still married to his ex-wife, Maleficent "Mal" Page. There was a huge scandal, but Gold had many powerful friends and equally powerful debtor enemies. 

Gold not only managed to extricate himself from this mess, but even retained his former position at the university. Regina was sure the old bastard had still been dating the young librarian. The couple just learned to be more discreet and careful. 

Regina was still teaching at another university then, but Kathryn Nolan told her more than once about the scandalous relationship between the dean and the student. Regina herself did not know much about Gold. She had seen Belle only once. Mr. Gold was once deeply involved with the professor's mother. Cora Mills was already married to Henry Mills. And Gold was married to his first wife, Mila Gold. Regina was certain that her mother and a womanizer Gold were having a passionate affair that cost Gold his first marriage and relationship with his eldest son, Neal. The old codger got away with it. As he always did. Regina didn't understand how her mother could make her father forget her infidelity and betrayal. But Regina wasn't blind, her parents were unhappy. What the woman didn’t understand was why they hadn’t divorced then. But she guessed that both of them were just old-fashioned. Regina herself would not mind a divorce. Then she could run away with her father and finally break free from the clutches of the domineering mother. But, probably, no one was destined to free themselves from Cora Mills.  _ Until death do us part _ . Literally. 

Regina emerged from the painful memories when Belle suddenly stopped and the professor nearly bumped into her. 

“What you're looking for is in thesection ' **Mills'** .” The librarian nodded to the darkest corner of the room. 

Regina wanted to ask where the Mills section came from, but Belle had already gone to do her library business, leaving the woman alone. 

The professor turned on the flashlight on her phone and hesitantly wandered over to where the shelf was. She only hoped that no evil spirits would jump out of the dark corner to her. 

Regina was amazed when she actually found a shelf with her name on it. Despite the fact that the section occupied an entire wardrobe, there was only one item wrapped in a gift box. The woman rarely received gifts. Well, flowers, of course, were often given to her, like all sorts of expensive trinkets. But she didn’t see them as a gift, most likely just a way to appease her and get into her bed. Emma gave her a gift just like that, asking for nothing in return. That is why it was a true gift. And a very special one to her. 

Regina hastily closed the car door. She couldn't wait to separate herself from the outside world in order to finally open her gift. Too impatient to act slowly, she simply tore open the beautiful gift wrapping, under which was a large book with a colorful cover and the title "Once Upon a Time". 

Regina didn't know whether to laugh or be angry at the blonde for making her drive across the town to give her a book of fairy tales. What was Swan thinking about? 

Despite her own confusion, the brunette opened the book and saw the inscription written in the neat handwriting of Emma Swan. 

" _ Professor Mills,  _

_ I hope you enjoy this book of fairy tales. These are not just fairy tales. At least they are not quite the same as we know them. I know what you are thinking. This blonde is completely out of her mind, forcing you to drive through the city to give you a children's book. But deep inside, in our heart, we are all children, right? Give this book a chance to surprise you. You will not be disappointed. And I hope that you don’t damn me for wasting Saturday afternoon on me.  _

_ E.S. " _

How did the blonde do it?

How could she read her mind like that? 

How could she comfort her with just a few words? 

Regina didn't know this. But now she was impatient to start reading this book. So she started the engine and drove back home. She seemed to have found something worthwhile for the rest of the day. 

  
  
  



	5. In the restaurant

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks to all the readers of this story. Thank you for your precious time and interest. Have a nice weekend. Enjoy reading this new chapter.

Regina sat in the noisy cafeteria.

After Robin's attack, she couldn't stay in her own office. Whenever she was there, she began to choke. She felt panic ripple inside her and like a poisonous liquid spread through her veins, reaching her throat, so that Regina felt her bitterness with every sip. This bitterness made her sick. The brunette ran to the restroom and then ran away from her office. She wouldn't admit to anyone that she suffered panic attacks, so she didn't ask Gold to give her a new office. And that is why she continued to stay in the university cafeteria, where she marked students' works. Every day she got a migraine from all this crazy turmoil and hum of young students. And yet she preferred to be here instead of spending time in her huge mansion, too quiet and too lonely. And how had she not noticed how lonely she was in this modern fairytale castle before?

Recently, she often thought about something fabulous, unreal. And the blame for these strange thoughts was Emma Swan, or rather, the book that the blonde gave her. Regina has read this book several times over the past two weeks. And she found these stories fascinating, unusual. Emma was right. Her professor liked the student's gift. 

"Evil isn't born, it is made." 

These lines were now forever imprinted in her mind. It was about her. Oh, the Evil Queen, as everyone thought of her, everyone who knew her. But none of them tried to understand why she was so cold, domineering, and prickly. None of them asked her what has made her the woman she was now. 

But these fairy tales, more precisely, one big story, woven from many different fairy tales, which at first glance were in no way connected, but with each page read turned out to be more and more intertwined and connected in the most unusual, but so understandable way. 

Regina couldn't help but identify with the Queen's story from this book of fairy tales. Unhappy love, betrayal, domineering mother. The only thing that wasn't in the life of Regina Mills was magic. Although, sometimes she doubted that her mother wasn't an evil sorceress, obsessed with power and influence. 

Regina must have been destined to be the Villain who could never have a happy ending. This is probably why she couldn't find her happiness with any of her boyfriends. Is it worth looking for love then if she will never be happy because she has a black heart and over time she became the same as her mother was. 

These thoughts made Regina feel sad and even more closed off from the rest of the world. No, she wasn't locked up in her mansion. No, it was much worse. She hid in herself. Locked herself in her own body, not allowing herself to feel anything. 

She perked up a little when her wistful, lost gaze met the gaze of emerald green eyes. Regina felt a surge of warmth that rolled over her in the moments of silent togetherness. But the pleasant magic always disappeared with the girl. And the brunette felt even more lonely and lost afterward. And evil. 

She began to avoid the blonde. She never thanked her for the gift. She just tried to distance herself so as not to feel anything. She started going to the nightclubs again, as she did before meeting Robin. She drank a lot, danced, and lured another partner into her nets for one night to throw the latter out before dawn. And this was repeated almost every weekend. She tried to supplant her loneliness with sex for one night. She just wanted someone to be there to hold her in their arms. Simply for a couple of hours. 

But these other people's embraces didn't save her.   
So she drove everyone away and swore to herself that no one else would be in her bed and again broke that promise with the coming of the weekend. 

Today was Thursday. Tomorrow is the last working day of this week and the weekend will come again. 

Regina was afraid of it.   
Even now, the thought of it made her grip the pen harder, almost breaking the instrument for writing. 

Suddenly she heard HER voice and involuntarily raised her eyes in search of the owner of this sonorous voice. 

Emma entered the lunchroom accompanied by Killian Jones, who had practically become her shadow over the past few weeks, dragging her around campus like a shadow. And Regina could feel jealousy insidiously stir in her soul.

She didn't understand herself, she stopped communicating with the girl, reducing their communication to the bare essentials. Even in the classroom, she almost didn't ask her student, who continued to regularly and diligently prepare for the lessons. Regina could see the confusion in the blonde's eyes. But she just couldn't act differently. Emma made her feel, feel something forbidden, something that she still couldn't experience or keep forever. She didn't want to indulge herself with illusions. 

That is why she decided to avoid the blonde at all costs, reducing their relationship to a minimum. But that didn't mean she didn't care who Emma was spending her time with. Just the opposite. Regina didn't want to be around the girl and at the same time couldn't be without her. Such a dangerous cocktail of conflicting emotions. 

Regina didn't take her eyes off the couple who had settled down near where the brunette sat. The students haven't noticed their professor yet.

Mills almost growled as Killian's hand rested on the blonde's back as he gently helped his companion to sit down. Regina wanted to rip off that very hand and beat this cheesy pirate with it. 

Tye was no chance that she would continue with her previous activity.   
The brunette watched her students with the attention of a predator. If looks could have killed, then the pirate would have been a ghost now. Regina kept her gaze on the couple. Killian chatted almost incessantly, while Emma looked at him condescendingly and listened to all the nonsense that the Irishman saw fit to tell her.   
Regina couldn’t tell by the look on the girl’s face if she liked the person she was talking to or if she was simply too well-mannered to leave right away. Mills had hoped for the latter. 

"Calm down." The woman spoke to herself. "You don't care if they like each other or not. You're not a part of Emma Swan's life, you shouldn't care who she's with and how she spends her time."

But the problem was just the fact that the professor did care who the blonde spent her time with because she wanted the girl to spend her time just with her. 

What's going on?! Why can't she get her student out of her mind? 

She was never interested in girls. Even in college and university, she didn't experiment with her sexuality. She loved Daniel, so she rightfully thought of herself as a heterosexual woman. But her current thoughts and desires for Emma made Regina question her sole sympathy for the opposite sex. 

Regina clearly had feelings and desires for the girl, that were far away from platonic ones. She looked at the girl's mouth and desperately wanted to touch these thin lips with her lips. She wanted the girl to embrace her with her strong arms and never let her go. Regina didn't know exactly when in the past two months she began to feel this sexual attraction towards her student. But it became difficult to deny this affection with each new day. 

She lied to herself for a long time. But at some point, she stopped denying the obvious, although she couldn't accept these forbidden feelings without a strong internal struggle. Probably the fact that she felt infatuation with her student, made the brunette stay away from the subject of her adoration. Because no way in the world would Emma want to be with her romantically. She was married. Most likely, she had children. Or at least she wanted them. 

Miss Swan was clearly interested in men. With her professor, she just wanted friendship. But Regina didn't want just friendship with her. She couldn't be friends with a girl and therefore wanted to break off any relationship now, at a very early stage, in order to save herself from strong emotional experiences and torment in the future. 

Then why couldn't she stop being jealous of her, wanting to be with Emma? To want her? 

When Killian put his hand on the arm of his companion, Regina jumped out of her chair and almost dashed to where the couple was sitting. The phone saved her from this reckless act, which alerted the woman that she received a new message.

Regina immediately sat back in her chair.   
The blood was still seething in her, heated by rage and selfish feelings. His temples pounded. She had to take a few deep breaths to clear up her head a little. Only then she was able to unlock her phone with trembling fingers. It was a text from Kathryn Nolan, who wanted to confirm their meeting today at a new restaurant that was recently opened in their city. 

Regina answered the text, put the smartphone in her purse, and left the dining room without ever looking back at Emma Swan and her beloved pirate. 

~~~

Regina was delighted to see Kathryn. Nolan was her only close friend, someone who had known her for at least 15 years. Mills didn't even realize how much she missed being with someone who knew her well enough to be friends with her despite her flaws. 

Kathryn wanted to hear firsthand how Regina handled the students from young Nolan's course. Regina remarked to herself that her friend looked great. And some of the fullness that remained after the birth suited her quite well. Kathryn gave birth just two weeks ago. Despite the premature birth, the baby didn't have any complications. For Kathryn and James, Kai was the first child. Although James was already 47 years old. But before meeting Kathryn, the man didn't even want to marry. Late alone to have children of his own. Which was very different from his twin brother David Nolan, who had been married to his high school sweetheart for nearly thirty years. Regina knew Mary Margaret and David Nolan since Mary Margaret had been a President of the University for several years, starting her career as a primary school teacher and reaching the top. Not without the help of her father, who was chief of administration and on the council of the university until he retired. Mary Margaret rarely appeared without the accompaniment of her husband, Chief of Police David Nolan - who also was Graham's boss.

Regina met Mary Margaret through Mr. Gold. Both were connected by some history from the past, but no one knew what exactly happened between the two influential people. However, Gold never tried to cross the path of the president of the university, and not only for professional reasons. In general, all their relationship was shrouded in mystery, the disclosure of which Regina wasn't interested in. She didn't apply for the post of the dean or of one of the president of the university. She was quite pleased with her current position and professional growth. 

And she was friends with another part of Nolan's family.   
Kathryn asked her about her course, about the news and gossips of the university that had accumulated during her absence. She told her friend about how wonderful Kai was and how much she loved him. 

Regina listened to her with a frozen smile, everything inside her turned over again with the desire to have a child of her own. 

When Kathryn went to the bathroom, the brunette began to look around aimlessly until she came across some very interesting visitors who had come to the opening of the restaurant. 

Robert Gold was sitting next to Belle, a couple whispering animatedly about something. Regina was once again amazed at how carefree and in love Gold was next to his girlfriend. He even looked younger. Robert and Belle met more than 10 years ago. And Regina did not doubt that their romance started at the same time, from the very first meeting. 

When Regina was about to turn her back on the lovers, a tall, slender girl approached the couple. Robert greeted her with a kiss on the cheek. Belle and the stranger exchanged forced smiles. 

"This is getting interesting." thought Regina. 

Soon, Mel Page, the dean's second ex-wife, joined Gold and his interlocutors. Maleficent sat next to the brunette, opposite her ex-husband and his new love. She almost didn't honor both of them with a glance, focusing on the young girl who was sitting next to her.

"This is Lily Page," Nolan explained, following the brunette's gaze.   
Regina flinched at Kathryn's voice. Mills didn't even notice that her friend was back. 

"Lily is the daughter of Robert Gold from his second marriage. Gold has two children. The eldest son Neal and the daughter Lily. By the way, this restaurant belongs to Neal Cassidy. The whole family must have come to the opening celebration." Nolan was a wonderful friend. But she was fond of gossip and conspiracy, while Mills didn't like either one or the other. "Neal and Lily were very close. But something happened a few years ago and brother and sister practically stopped communicating with each other." 

Regina didn't react to her friend's story. She was not interested in the personal life of the dean of the university where she worked. She would like to sort out her life somehow. 

But in the next minute, something happened that completely captured her attention. 

Emma Swan walked into the restaurant and walked straight to the table where Regina's boss and his family were sitting. 

"What is she doing here?" flashed through the brunette's head. 

Emma shook Gold's hand, hugged Belle heartily, nodded to Mal Page, and turned to Lily. The dark-haired girl hugged Emma, but the blonde barely responded to the hug, just stood motionless in the ring of the hands. It was an awkward moment. When the greeting ritual was over, Emma sat down, just between Belle and Mal Page. The latter immediately started a conversation with the girl. Emma answered something politely, nodded her head at the right moments, but on the whole, she looked somehow detached and lost. 

Lily Page kept her eyes on the blonde. 

Regina was willing to swear that young Paige was in love with Emma. This made Mills want to gnash her teeth. Was there at least someone who was not in love with her student?! 

Even though Swan was sitting almost in front of Regina's table, she didn't notice either her professor or her jealous looks. It seemed that the blonde didn't notice anything or anyone around her at all. 

Regina, on the other hand, couldn't stop looking at her, noting the severe pallor of her face that made her thin lips look almost gray and colorless. The green eyes were devoid of the usual emerald radiance, well-hidden pain settled in them. What made the girl suffer so much? Why hadn't Regina noticed her agony sooner, then in the cafeteria or class? Probably because Mills was too blinded by her jealousy. But now she wanted to go up to the girl, take her hand and take her away, then hug her tightly and not let go until the blonde ceases to be sad. 

Regina even had to cling to the tabletop to stay seated. 

At that moment, a tall man approached Emma's table and hugged the blonde tightly. But the girl barely responded to his embrace, only patted awkwardly on the man's back and, it seems, sighed with relief when the man released her from his bear hug. 

Leaving Emma alone, the young man greeted everyone at the table. 

"This is Neal Cassidy." Kathryn continued to chat, not noticing the absent gaze of her interlocutor. "That blonde is his wife, or rather his ex-wife. They broke up a few years ago, but Neal is still deeply in love with her. It's rumored that not only Neal loves his wife, but also his younger sister. Probably because of this brother and sister stopped communicating. Although there is no confirmation of this gossip. But just look at how Lily Page looks at her ex-sister-in-law."

Regina saw those looks and was even more jealous of Emma for all these people. Jealousy literally burned her from the inside. 

She didn’t notice how their order was finally delivered. She ate, but practically didn't taste the food, although her dish was very delicious. She kept looking at the blonde. Emma barely touched her food as she stared fixedly at her plate. Neal and Lily were arguing quietly about something. 

Regina tried to focus on her food and distract herself a little from spying on Miss Swan. She tried to participate in the conversation with Kathryn and for a while, she succeeded. But when a rumble of voices rose at the opposite table and the next minute Emma Swan rushed past the professor's seat, Regina jumped up from her seat too. Muttering an unintelligible apology, she ran after the blonde. 

It was raining heavily outside and Regina almost instantly got wet to the skin. Damn rain. The visibility was poor. And yet Regina managed to find the girl with her eyes. The blonde, it seems, didn't notice the torrential stream at all and was just rushing somewhere. 

Regina grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out of the way just in time as a black Jeep roared past them, dousing them in a muddy wave from a puddle. 

But Regina didn't notice. She continued to hug the trembling body of the girl. The blonde tried to break free from the strong arms, but Mills wouldn't let her do it. After several minutes of unsuccessful attempts to free herself from the embrace, Emma became quiet and snuggled up to the woman, burying her nose in her neck. 

Regina enjoyed the opportunity to keep the girl so close to her. She was pleased with the thought that the blonde was looking for her comfort and protection. The professor was glad that she ran after the girl. She couldn't bear the thought that the girl could die under the wheels of a car, the driver of which wouldn't even notice her under such water streams. And where did all this rainy storm come from? When she walked to the restaurant, the sun was shining brightly. 

Regina hugged the girl tighter, stroking her back and trying to warm her with her own body. Then the woman took Swan into her car and put her in the passenger seat. In the luggage compartment, she found a warm blanket that had been there from the last picnic with Ronald and Robin. Now, this blanket turned out to be even more useful. 

Mills wrapped the girl in a blanket to prevent her from getting sick and dying of pneumonia. She turned on the interior heater at full power to quickly warm herself up. 

Regina hesitated to speak to the girl. She didn't know what upset the girl so much that she decided to run away from the restaurant in such a rainy storm. 

The girls just sat silently next to each other for a while. Regina surreptitiously watched the girl staring thoughtfully straight ahead. At least her pallor had diminished, giving way to a slight blush. Mills didn't know what this blush was caused by, but it gave the girl a special charm. 

When Regina caught herself looking at her student's lips for the second time, she resolutely started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot towards her mansion. 

She urgently needed to be outside of the small interior of the car, otherwise, she couldn't guarantee that she would be able to refrain from pouncing on the girl's lips and tearing them apart with her own. That would be her death. 

Emma Swan made her go crazy, lose control. Regina didn't like losing control, she couldn't lose control. Control was all she had, all what was left to her. Without control, she would simply cease to exist. She needed to control her own destiny, to be the pilot of her own life and fate. And next to the girl, she plunged into chaos. 

Regina got out of the car, then helped her companion out. The girl looked around with curiosity. The rain stopped as they drove. The raindrops gave the estate a fabulous look that you wanted to admire. 

They didn't speak. Mills opened the front door and stepped aside, allowing the visitor to enter first. The brunette felt a strange excitement. Not that she was worried about her house not being cleaned. She knew that perfect order reigned there. She just wasn't used to bringing someone home in daylight. And the girl was here for the second time now. Regina loved it. And it scared her even more. Because she could imagine how she would return home after work and how the blonde would greet her with her hugs and kisses. They would have dinner together, watch nonsensical movies, and sometimes eat the junk food that students love so much. On weekends, they would sit on her terrace, drink hot coffee and enjoy the scent of apples and the beauty of the garden. 

All this she could imagine so easily. She wanted it. She wanted all this with a girl who didn't even know about the feelings of her professor. How could she? Regina was very good at hiding her feelings, hardly admitting them even to herself. It was easier to deny everything. But this was given to her more and more difficult with each new day. 

Now she felt that she was tired of denying and lying to herself. She had feelings for her student. Very strong, wrong feelings. And not at all because the blonde was a girl, Regina wasn't homophobic. But the girl was her student. This automatically made all her feelings for Emma unacceptable and forbidden. She couldn't risk their lives because of her weakness. There was too much at stake. Plus, she didn't even know if Emma liked girls. Well, other than those rumors about her and Lily Page. But people gossip about it a lot, this didn't mean that all of them were true. 

Regina put down a cup of hot cocoa in front of the girl, who was still wrapped in the covers and trembling. 

"Have a drink, it will help you to keep warm. Then take a shower in the guest bathroom. In the closet, you will find everything you need. I will go get you a change of clothes." Regina almost ran from the room, keeping the last vestiges of regal posture and arrogance. But when she was already on the doorstep, the girl called out to her. Mills froze, then slowly turned to look at the blonde with all her usual equanimity. 

"Regina ... Thank you for everything. It really means a lot to me." Emma smiled wearily, but even her smile warmed the brunette's soul. 

"You saved me, I saved you, well, almost. I think we're almost quits." Regina responded with a mock of nonchalance.

The girl didn’t respond to this and Regina hurried to leave the room before she changed her mind and confessed her feelings to the girl. 

Choosing a set of expensive silk pajamas, Regina tried not to think about the fact that the girl was only a few meters away, in the guest bathroom. The brunette tried to get rid of the seductive image of a naked young body under warm streams of water from her head, which again and again appeared in front of her inner gaze and which made her melt and want to touch this naked beauty. 

Desperate, she drank a glass of cider in one gulp and, intoxicated, realized that it was a mistake. In this state, it became even more difficult for her to resist her own desires. Regina never denied herself anything. She always did what she wanted, took what she wanted. Therefore, it was difficult for her to fight the temptation, which for her was her female student. If Regina hadn't been cold in her wet clothes, she would have taken a cold shower. Very cold shower. But instead, she tried to keep warm under the warm streams of water.

She found Emma in the guest room. The girl sat on a soft bed and nodded off. Regina caught her breath at such a charming sight because the girl looked so much like a little kitten that charmingly was dozing off, but struggled with its sleep, now and then raising its muzzle. 

Regina chuckled. A sound she had never made before. A sound that Emma couldn't help but hear. 

"What? What are you laughing at?"

"Over nothing ... a kitten." Regina teased.

"Who's the kitten? I'm a tigress." Emma retorted with childish fervor.

"Well, of course, a tiger cub." 

"Tigress." Swan insisted stubbornly. 

"Tiger kitten. Kitty-kitty-kitty." The brunette said teasingly. Somehow it was so much fun provoking the blonde. 

Probably because the latter reacted with the fervor of a real teenager, which she wasn't. 

This teasing fight woke the blonde up. Emma lunged at Regina and both fell to the floor in a strange entanglement of arms and legs. 

Regina tried to tickle the girl to get out of her grasp. But the girl didn't let her go, although she wriggled like a snake, afraid of tickling. The blonde fell on her, pressing the woman to the floor, thereby immobilizing her. The women fell silent, lying on top of each other. Emma was on the top of her, Regina - beneath her. None of them laughed anymore. 

The women looked deeply into each other's eyes. Regina with fear. Emma with curiosity. 

"What are you so afraid of?" Emma whispered, her breath tickling the most seductive lips she'd ever seen. 

"You," Regina whispered back, enjoying the pleasant weight of Emma's body. "Myself."

"Why?" 

“Because… this is wrong. We… shouldn't…” since when did Regina Mills start stuttering? 

"Because ... Maybe that's why?" 

Emma leaned in even closer and kissed the question that was ready to escape those plump lips.

Regina froze for a moment. For one endless moment that took her tired mind to understand that everything was happening for real, and not just in her head. Realizing this, Regina returned the kiss with all passion she could muster. She buried her hands in silky golden curls, pulling the girl even closer to her and deepening the kiss. She gasped as Emma opened her mouth, letting her tongue in and playing skillfully with her tongue. Regina's skin burned where the girl's hand touched her belly, slowly approaching her chest and gently covering the most sensitive part of her upper body. Regina groaned as Emma carefully squeezed her breasts, sending current and burning lava to all nerve endings of her body. The brunette started to gag from an unprecedented wave of passion and pleasure. Even with Daniel, she didn't feel anything like it. But she felt more than passion. Something deeper and stronger awakened in her after this kiss. Not only the desire to have her way on a girl, to make the blonde hers and never let her go. But also the wish to protect. Just to hold Emma in her hands and enjoy this closeness. Regina also realized that she could no longer live without it. Without girl's kisses, without her presence in the oldest woman's life. 

Regina hugged the blonde tighter and swapped them without breaking the kiss. Emma just sighed in surprise, not at all opposing the warm, ideal body that pressed against her from above. Emma hugged the brunette and pressed her closer to herself. If this was even possible, because their bodies merged so perfectly, matching each other. The women complemented each other, physically and emotionally, and this caused a strong feeling of euphoria. 

After a few endless minutes, they had to break the kiss due to a strong lack of air. Emma trembled as Regina lowered her lips to her neck. It was the most erogenous part of her body and Regina caressed her masterfully, knowing perfectly well how to touch the sensitive skin, where to run it with her tongue, where to bite it with tenacious teeth, and where just to give a wet kiss. Emma was drugged by this caress, which gave her wonderful, long-forgotten experiences. 

Regina tried not to miss a single millimeter of silky hot skin while inhaling the girl's wonderful scent, consisting of a heady cocktail of expensive perfume, body gel, and the girl's unique scent. 

The brunette was losing the last hint of common sense, moaning when she gently sucked the girl's skin where the pulse was beating excitedly and felt Emma's fingers firmly grabbing her hair, pulling her even closer, not allowing her to pull away or stop these pleasant activities. 

It was unbelievable how Regina was aroused right now. She wanted to pick up the girl and carry her to the bed in the guest room, put her on the mattress, and love her until dawn. And the woman's body was united with this desire. But her mind told her to stop. She knew that if she continued to kiss the girl now and slept with her, she could lose her forever. Emma was now emotional and for only half an hour she was very upset about something. Now she was just trying to forget herself in this passionate embrace. But in the morning she will regret what she did. 

Regina didn't want to be her condemnation and regret. She wanted to be everything to the girl. And she certainly won't satisfy her hunger for the girl with just one night. Regina wanted to fall asleep and wake up next to the blonde. To do this, they need to move slowly, get to know each other a little, go on a date. Swan wasn't her one-night distraction. Mills wanted many nights in her strong arms. Therefore, she somewhat reduced the ardor of her caresses, but couldn't immediately tear herself away from the younger woman, continuing to kiss her and to find new erogenous points. 

Emma whimpered in protest when the brunette fell silent, ceasing her caresses and putting her head on the girl's chest, where the latter's heart was beating excitedly. 

Regina herself growled in frustration that was tearing her body apart. She hoped she wasn't making a mistake of stopping now that they both wanted so badly to continue their enjoyable pursuits. 

"I want you to know me first," Regina whispered in the girl's ear. "I don't want to just have sex with you. I want many nights full of passion with you." 

Emma trembled feeling the woman's warm breath as the latter whispered this confession to her. Her entire body was still vibrating with intense desire. She couldn't believe how quickly the brunette could turn her on with just her kisses. Incredible! 

Emma was even ready to give up her promise to never sleep with a woman again. A promise that she made to herself after her past infatuation with a woman took away what was most precious to her. She knew she had been fascinated by her professor from their first meeting in law classes. But she tried to keep a respectful distance from the brunette, not realizing that her sympathy was mutual. And now she was scared, realizing that Regina, with one simple kiss, had turned to her from something desirable and unattainable into something dependent and attainable. It was easy to cherish feelings and dreams for the person with whom you knew you would never be together. 

Now, this barrier was gone and Emma was horrified when she again began to fall into the abyss of her own desires. But she couldn't let go of Regina from her embrace. She fingered the dark curls affectionately, digging her fingers into the silky strands of her hair. She liked the way the woman's breath felt, so agitated and interrupted at first and so calm and tender now, gently tickled her neck. 

They remained on the floor for a while, but then moved to the bed in the guest room and settled on the mattress in each other's arms, still not talking or discussing everything that had happened to them recently. 

They fell asleep almost immediately in this interlacing of arms and legs, surrendering to the power of Morpheus.


	6. Vault

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spoiler: Regina will discover something from Emma's past. Something sad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the belated post. The week kept me quite busy. Still, I hope you will enjoy this new chapter. And huge thank to all of you guys for reading my story. Have a great weekend. Stay safe.

**From the very first day, I met you,**

**I knew that I loved you**

**And my infatuated soul secretly weeps**

**Your treacherous love**

**doesn't offer me any respite**

**For I know that you'll never, ever be mine.**

**(Gilda "Corazon valiente")**

  
  
  


Regina stared at the empty table where her favorite student used to sit. Emma hasn't shown up in class for two weeks.

From the very night, they spent together in Mill's mansion. 

Regina woke up and the blonde wasn't there. Half of the bed where the girl slept was empty and cold. Emma was gone long before Mills woke up. 

Regina tried to hide her pain and disappointment after realizing that Swan had run away like a thief under cover of the night while the brunette slept and dreamed of her. 

Regina wanted to rip and toss. She wanted to do what was best. But obviously, this was a fatal mistake. She was afraid that she would lose the younger woman by sleeping with her. But she lost her without doing so. It seemed to her that everything was fine between them. They fell asleep in each other's arms and Regina slept without nightmares for the first time in a while, as if the girl fought each of them and didn't allow any of them to approach the brunette. This is probably why Regina slept so soundly and carefree that she didn't hear the girl leaving. To say that Mills was offended by this nocturnal getaway would be an understatement. But these actions of the girl hurt her even more. Swan wanted to avoid the conversation that would have to take place in the morning. This is why she left instead of saying that she didn't want to have anything to do with her professor. Regina could understand this, except the girl's choice, come to terms with her decision in the end. But the blonde chose to run away. And this made the woman very angry. She wanted to confront the student in the class. However, the girl wasn't in her classes, or at the university at all. On the third day of the girl's absence, Regina received an email from Emma, officially informing her that the girl was sick. 

At first, Regina was furious because she doubted the student's sudden illness. She did not respond to the girl's message in any way, only ordered Mr. Jones to send to the blonde presentations from classes and all her homework. The girl should complete everything by the time of her return, at least. Mills won't let her take a mid-term vacation. 

However, when the blonde didn't show up after a week of classes, Regina became worried. What if Emma really got sick, getting wet in the pouring rain that day?

Regina wrote the girl an official message and sent the last assignments, to which she received a short message with gratitude, which, however, did not clarify what was happening to the girl, nor did it explain her absence from classes. 

Regina couldn't ask Emma's classmates without arousing suspicion. Therefore, she decided to wait for the girl's return and, if possible, ask about what had happened. In the meantime, she just preferred to take offense at the strange attitude from the blonde. After all, she couldn't be so wrong in the signals that the girl gave her, could she? She saw all these interested looks of the girl in the class. They flirted almost overtly in messages. Emma kissed her and fell asleep in her arms. Or did the blonde get scared and change her mind? 

Mills could understand that. In the beginning for a long time denied her feelings for the girl, for her student, and realizing her craving for a blonde, she was terrified and scared, thinking about all the risks for both of them and her career. But after some time, she just accepted her feelings. And that meeting at the restaurant was a turning point for her. 

Therefore, she could understand that the girl needed more time to make a decision, understand her feelings and decide for herself whether she wants to enter into a forbidden relationship with her professor. What she couldn’t understand was why the girl ran away that night and why she didn’t make herself feel for weeks. 

Regina needed the blonde ...

Today was another anniversary of her parents' death. Sometimes a woman could not believe that her parents had been gone for 7 years. On such days it seemed to her that everything had happened only yesterday. Time, of course, made this pain bearable and there were days when she barely thought about her loss. But during the anniversary, all the feelings and memories heaped on her with an unbearable burden. Today there was no exception. 

Therefore, she especially badly needed the presence of her favorite student. Regina didn't even know where her stupid belief that the blonde could somehow help her get through this day came from. But she believed in it and hated this new weakness of hers that Emma had become for her. That is why she always avoided all feelings that could bind her to another person, making her dependent on anyone, someone. Regina was very fond of her father, had strong mixed feelings towards her mother, and the loss of both parents in one day almost broke her. But already after Daniel's death, the woman began to fear everything stronger than the usual sympathy, which was sufficient for a non-binding relationship, such as she had with Robin or her crushes for one night. 

But Emma ... The girl imperceptibly made her way through all her barriers and protective walls and climbed into the brunette's heart. Very deep, so that it was impossible to completely eradicate it from her being. 

Therefore, Regina had very ambiguous feelings towards the girl. On the one hand, she needed her and waited for her, but on the other hand, she was afraid of her, afraid of meeting her. She was afraid to completely trust her and allow me to plunge into this maelstrom of strong feelings and attachments. 

The class of law was over. The students had long left the classroom in a noisy crowd, but Regina was still sitting at her desk, not moving and mused upon a distant scene. For today, her working day was over. Still, she was in no hurry to leave the university building, as if delaying the moment when she still had to do what she did not want to do at all. 

She didn't like being here. The cemetery always made her sad. She considered this place a place of sorrow, pain, and crying. A haven of inevitability and that disastrous precipice where human dreams and plans for the future fall and break. She came to the large luxurious crypt every weekend, laid flowers at the door, but didn't go inside. And only on the anniversary of the death of her parents, she opened the heavy doors of the vault and spent some time next to the tomb of her parents. She often spoke to her father and was almost always silent next to her mother's ashes. Today's trip to the vault was no exception. She couldn't help crying as she told her father about the events that had happened to her over the past few months. About her fiasco with Robin, about the attack, about Emma and their kiss. 

Regina could swear that when she talked about the blonde, she heard her mother's voice saying that love was a weakness, that Regina had become weak because of her infatuation with a student. 

Regina tried to ignore that thin voice in her head because she knew that her mother wasn't there to tell her daughter this her favorite statement, which the elder Mills repeated every day like a personal mantra. But the professor's head swarmed with many questions and doubts caused by the appearance of Emma in her life. 

Regina wanted to forget her sympathy for the blonde, to root out all feelings towards her. And she tried very hard to succeed at that. But for some reason, she began to experience incredible emptiness from all these attempts. And she has never been able to completely get rid of memories and desires that she had for her student.

Regina said goodbyes to her father, took one last look at the beautiful urn with her mother's ashes, and finally left the vault, immediately breathing in deeply the fresh air from the street. 

At that very moment, a bright sun peeped out from behind a cloud and literally blinded the woman with its radiance, reminding Regina that she still was alive and that she was part of this big fascinating world. It was a wonderful feeling.

But almost immediately, Emma's face surfaced in front of her inner gaze and the smile disappeared from her face. Regina swore she saw the girl for real.

The blonde was standing by some tombstone. Regina couldn't see her face, but she was certain it was Emma. Mills watched the blonde, not daring to approach her, fearing that the girl would disappear like a beautiful mirage. But most of all she was afraid to be disappointed that the girl might not be Emma. In recent days, she missed the girl the most and saw her in almost every girl with golden hair. 

For this reason, she was in no hurry to the next mirage. 

Regina argued with herself whether to approach the stranger or not. While her head told her to stay away from her student, her heart said just the opposite. 

The brunette locked the heavy doors of the crypt, and when she looked again to where the girl stood, but the blonde was no longer there.

Regina sighed in disappointment and slowly trudged out of the cemetery. Passing the place where a copy of Emma stood just a few minutes ago, the brunette looked at the tombstone and froze in shock. 

  
  


_**Henry Swan Cassidy** _

_**Beloved son and grandson** _

  
  


There was a photograph of a smiling little boy, four years old, on the headstone ...

**I don't care at all, because I don't want anything else**

**I only want to feel what my heart longs for**

**But I don't care at all, because I don't want anything else**

**And I shall learn how painful a goodbye can be for one's soul**

**(Gilda "Corazon valiente")**

  
  


Regina came home. She couldn't get the picture of the boy out of her mind. Emma had a son with her ex-husband. A handsome boy with brown eyes and the widest and most sincere smile, looking at which one couldn't help but smile. She was inviting and beautiful. 

But Henry was dead...

Regina couldn't imagine what Emma felt like when her son died. 

What happened to him? 

He was sick? 

Emma and Neal's marriage fell apart due to the death of their son? 

It would not be strange, many marriages fall apart after the death of children. 

No parent should bury their child. 

By a strange coincidence, Henry died on the same day as her parents. Ironically, Emma and Regina had something terribly in common, they both lost the one they loved the most in life. Of course, Mills couldn't compare her loss to that of Emma. The death of a loved one or a parent is not the same thing as the death of a child. Somehow, Regina was firmly convinced of that. 

Where is Emma now? 

Regina remembered the fresh flowers and the new comic book at Henry's grave. 

Did Emma's son love comics? 

He hardly knew how to read. So Emma read these comics with him? 

Suddenly, Regina remembered the book the girl had given her. Book of fairy tales. "Once upon a time...". 

This book told a story of a little boy who had two mothers. A biological mother abandoned her son to give him the best chance for a better future, which she could not give him because she was too young and with a criminal past. The fabulous boy was adopted by the evil queen, who loved the boy with all her heart. In a strange coincidence, the two women met and began to fight each other in their desire to get the boy. Although, the biological mother did not want to take her son. She just wanted to make sure her son was doing well.

But the adoptive mother was too afraid that the woman would take her little prince away from her and therefore fought her with all her might. As a result, the boy suffered after eating a poisoned turnover that the evil queen had prepared for his biological mother to get rid of the latter once and for all. After that, both women united in their attempts to save their son. From that very moment, the fates of the women and the boy were closely intertwined with each other, creating an amazing story together. Regina read the book many times. For some reason, she saw herself in the evil queen, in her beautiful biological mother - Emma, and Henry became their magic prince. 

And then something made a click in her head. She realized that it was Emma who wrote this amazing book of fairy tales. 

Was Emma a writer?

Regina wouldn't be surprised if that were true. The girl had many hidden talents. 

Did Emma read her work to her son at night? 

Regina thought so ...

Mills remembered that she had read in the girl's file that Emma Swan had graduated from medical school. She was a talented neurosurgeon, the youngest doctor - wonder kid. How did it happen that she became a student of international law? 

There were too many blanks and time skips in the blonde's biography for Regina to find the answers to her questions. Miss Swan turned out to be even more attractive and interesting to her. 

Regina realized that she had finally met someone whose secrets she wanted to know, every single one. And she never wanted to stop doing that. 

Regina was sitting in her cabinet at home, in an armchair, Emma's book in her arms. 

Why did Emma give her this fabulous collection of magic stories? 

Now Mills understood that it wasn't just a gift, it was a piece of the blonde's world, which the latter decided to share with her. 

Did this mean that Regina cared about Emma? Maybe the girl thus wanted to reveal to her something valuable from her past? 

Regina ran her fingers affectionately over the somewhat tattered paper binding of the book.

Did Emma read these tales to her little prince? 

Regina vividly imagined the mother and the son lying together on a large bed, hugging each other tightly, reading the fascinating adventures of fairy-tale characters. 

Regina wondered if this anniversary of her son's death was the reason for the girl's long absence. 

For sure…

The woman picked up the phone. For some reason, she wanted to call the blonde and just to hear her voice. Just find out that Emma was doing well. But she didn't dare, reproaching herself for cowardice. Although, what could she say to the girl? One kiss didn’t make them a couple and didn’t give the woman the right to burst into the life of her student whenever she liked. And although Regina couldn't stop thinking about the girl, that didn't mean that Emma thought of her too and missed her as the brunette did. 

It was slowly getting dark outside. Regina, however, continued to sit in her home office, deep in thoughts. She flinched when her smartphone alerted her to an incoming call. 

The woman hurried to answer when she saw the caller's name.

_**"I need you..."** _

Regina gasped with happiness and excitement as she heard the voice she had longed to hear for weeks. She wasn't affected by the fact that the girl sounded somewhat lost and blurry as if she was drunk. Regina heard loud music. Surely, the girl was in some club. But before Mills could answer or ask a question about her student's whereabouts, Emma suddenly ended the call.

Five minutes later Regina was already running out of the house, clutching her purse and car keys in one hand, with the other hand she continued to dial the blonde's number over and over again, hoping that the latter would finally answer the call...

  
  


**Because I have a courageous heart**

**I will love you, I will love you**

**Because I have a courageous heart**

**I would rather love you first and then lose you.**

**(Gilda "Corazon valiente")**

  
  



	7. Miss Swan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, thank you so much for reading this story and for all feedbacks I got so far. I appreciate all of them. Sorry for the belated update on the story. It was quite difficult chapter for me to write. But I hope, you will enjoy reading it. I'm open for all feedbacks. But I still have a reminder that I'm not a professional writer and it's my first work on this topic. So, take it easy on me, please. 😊

Regina felt very tired.   
It was getting late. She managed to drive around several local bars, but she couldn't find a girl. She called her many times. But the blonde didn't answer. And the last few calls were immediately forwarded to the mailbox. 

Regina didn't know what happened to Emma, where she called her from, and why she didn't answer her calls. Mills imagined only the worst. The girl was drunk. She was drunk enough to call her professor and ask for help. Emma didn't seem like a person who easily asked for help. So the girl was very drunk. Defenseless. Regina imagined drunken guys for whom a girl could be an easy target. What if someone put something in her alcohol? 

Regina didn't want to think about it.   
Maybe the girl felt bad and she went outside to get some fresh air?   
But Regina couldn't ride the night streets all night long, peering into the faces of passers-by.  
Plus, very soon the streets will be filled with students who have decided to have a fun night out, even though tomorrow was the last day of this week's class. Many of them will not appear at the university anyway. Well, or they will come to lessons on their last legs. 

But now Regina didn't want to think about all the students, she was interested in one particular student, whom she really wanted to find and then kill her with her own hands for making Mills worry so much about her, losing her mind. 

The usually very collected and reserved brunette was now losing her vaunted self-control. And all because she could not find a person about whom she knew practically nothing, but who meant more to her than all those people that she knew well. 

Regina tried to imagine where she would have gone on her own if she had been a student and if her mother hadn't been Cora Mills. She suddenly remembered Kathryn's stories of her turbulent youth and where her blonde friend met her Prince James. At a bar called Rabbit Hole. Regina herself had never been to such a hot spot. First, because of the endless control and prohibitions of her mother, and then because of her own unwillingness to sit all evening long in a smoky room, where everyone was pumped up either with alcohol or with something much stronger. Drugs of different types and strengths of action, for example. 

Typing the address of the bar into the navigator, Regina, without delay, darted from her place, heading to where she hoped to find the negligent girl. Find her and then punish her. Depending on what state she finds the blonde in. 

In the bar it was loud and crowded. It was as if all the students had decided to make an excursion to a local drinking establishment. The smell of alcohol, cigarettes and a smelly cocktail of cheap cologne and floral perfume immediately hit her nose. 

Regina looked around a little with disgust, trying to find a shock of golden hair in this moving crowd. The woman, trying not to get dirty with anything and not allow anyone to overturn on her cheaper swill, which was served with a bang in this institution, began to move to the bartoo ask the bartender if he had seen her blonde. Of course, the likelihood that a bartender or barmaid could remember someone's particular face from such a huge number of visitors was negligible. But Regina still wanted to try. 

She even managed to get the attention of the bar employee behind the counter, who hurried to her as to another customer. The young man approached her with an unnaturally wide but rather friendly smile and greeted her. Regina even ordered a glass of cider. Not that she was going to drink this parody of her homemade favorite drink. Not at all. She just wanted to pay the bartender a minute of his time with her order. 

While the guy was preparing her drink, Regina continued to look around, trying to find a certain person, and when she already was willing to think that the girl wasn't there, she stumbled upon the girl. Mills couldn't see her face as the blonde reclined on the bar, her face buried in folded arms, which she used as a pillow. But Regina did not doubt that it was Emma. 

The woman left her drink untouched and hurried to the girl, who in all likelihood managed to fall asleep on the bar counter to deafening music and drunken voices. 

Emma didn't react to the light touch of her hand on her shoulder, so Mills decided to shake her a little harder. To which the girl replied with an indistinct muttering, but didn't raise her head. 

Regina was running out of patience. She was looking for a student for several hours now. She was tired. It had been a long, emotionally exhausting day and all she wanted was to be in her own warm, soft bed. Instead, she would have to babysit her student. And judging by the state of the latter, the night will be very difficult. The blonde poured into herself all the alcohol that came to her hand. It was a miracle that the girl hadn't yet fallen into a coma or alcoholic oblivion, which wouldn't in the least surprise the angry professor. 

Regina, without ceremony, strongly, but without causing pain, tugged on the golden curls, forcing the girl to raise her head and look at the older woman. This time the girl obeyed. She looked at her professor with the happy smile of a drunk person.

"R'gina, you c'me. You found me." Mills could hardly understand what the blonde was saying. On the one hand, she was touched by this disheveled creature with smeared makeup and eyes that looked somewhere past her. On the other hand, she wanted to properly scold this child who had a good fortune, but there would be little use from this no because tomorrow Emma will unlikely remember anything from today's events. So Regina decided to leave the scolding thing for later and instead take the drunk girl to her home. Again. It is unlikely that the girl could get to her house by herself. And Regina didn't know if someone was waiting there to take care of her. 

For some reason, Mills immediately remembered Neal Cassidy and Lily Page, and she didn't like the idea of them taking care of Emma at all. 

Regina was immensely grateful to the bartender for helping her get the girl out of the bar and put her in the car, despite the risk of losing his job or all the proceeds of the evening. Regina gave the guy $ 50 as a token of gratitude. After the women were left alone in the car, the professor tried to seat the girl more comfortably and fasten her with a seat belt. Safety goes first. 

But the blonde didn't make this task easier for her at all. Emma was obviously attacked by a fit of love and she constantly wanted to hug. Under normal circumstances, Regina would not object in the least to such a manifestation of feelings. But now it was completely out of place. She was eager to get away from this dark nook and quickly find herself in her mansion and then lay this loving creature in the guest room, which could have long been renamed in Swan's room because the girl would be spending her third night in it. 

Regina flinched when the girl was still able to pull her into a tight hug and buried her nose in the curve of her neck. The woman felt a chill run through her body. The girl's warm breath tickled her skin pleasantly. The neck was one of the most sensitive parts of the brunette's body. When the girl raised her head a little and her mouth touched the professor's ear, her teeth clinging to the earlobe, Regina involuntarily moaned, feeling that somewhere deep inside the sexual desire originated, which was now very inappropriate. She wasn't going to do anything like that with a girl that now consisted of 90% alcohol. Mills could not take any advantage of the girl, Emma meant too much to her. Besides, the brunette remembered the reason why the girl was in such a deplorable state that evening. And it acted on the woman like a bucket of cold water. 

Regina pulled the girl away from her almost by force and slammed the car door shut. On stiff legs, with buzzing in her ears, she sat in the driver's seat. Having previously closed and locked all the doors, she sat motionless for quite some time, looking in front of her into the darkness and trying to collect her thoughts. They didn't need to get into an accident just because Mills was unable to cope with her feelings and hormones. 

By the time she started the car and drove home, Emma had already fallen asleep, her head resting against the cool glass. Regina just hoped the girl would sober up a little and come to her senses during their short trip. Either way, a little sleep wouldn't hurt her. 

Regina unconsciously worried that the girl would become even more indispensable after a short nap, but nothing like that happened. Of course, the blonde was still very drunk and still crawled towards her with hugs, but in general, they were quite tolerably able to get to the front door of the woman's mansion. 

However, while Mills was fiddling with the keys and opening the door, the blonde managed to lean on her from behind, thereby pushing the professor against the door. Emma grabbed the woman's waist with her hands, probably in order not to collapse on the porch, but for some reason, Regina thought that this was a donetoo "feel" her once more. The girl's shrewd hands immediately ended up on the woman's belly, where the coat did not cover her. When Mills was able to finally open the door and they burst into the house together, the blonde crawled under her blouse with her hands, fingers caressing the naked warm skin of her belly. 

Grabbing the girl by the hand, she dragged Emma with her into the kitchen, where she made the girl drink several glasses of water to somewhat ease the girl's hangover tomorrow. Emma tried to object to such an "act of violence" against her stomach, but the professor remained unimpressed. The threat to the girl worked, the student, even practically without outside help, was able to get to the guest room, and only there she fell on a soft bed. Regina couldn't get her to get up to straighten the bed and undress, so the woman had to pull her boots and tight jeans off the sleeping girl and cover her guest with a warm blanket. Emma only sighed softly at such manipulations with her body, but she never woke up. Regina hoped the girl would sleep until morning. 

But this wasn't about to happen. Somewhere in the morning, Mills woke up to the strange sounds. At first, she got scared and thought that the robbers had entered the house. Listening carefully, she realized that the noise was coming from the guest room. Armed with a baseball bat, she crept into the guest room as quietly as possible. The robber turned out to be her drunk student, who was in the bathroom and seemed to have had time to make close friendships with the toilet. Regina winced at the smell of vomit; she had never had to help someone to recover from a noisy party before. She wasn't sure that she wouldn't vomit next to the girl. But for Emma's sake, she wanted to try. Trying to breathe less, she squatted next to the blonde, she gathered the girl's wet tangled locks into something like a ponytail and tried to gently stroke the student's back when another attack of nausea twisted her body. The blonde spent the next few hours next to the toilet, and it seemed like an eternity to Regina. It seemed to her that she was already saturated with the smell of vomit and now would never be washed in the bathroom, despite all her fragrant foams and various additives in the bathroom. Probably, she will have to swim in the perfume. But even that wouldn't have helped her. And yet Regina was glad that she could be with the girl at such a difficult moment in her life. But even yesterday she planned to get drunk herself, as she did on every anniversary of the death of her parents. Now her liver was grateful to the student for not letting Regina get drunk unconsciously. 

Emma fell asleep with a restless sleep at dawn. Regina lay down next to her to react quickly and help the girl if she suddenly felt sick again. But the girl didn't wake up until noon. Regina only dozed lightly, however, she was brutally wrested from her sleep by her alarm clock. Of course, there could be no question of any work today. She couldn't leave the girl alone. And she looked more like a zombie after a turbulent sleepless night. So she just called and said that she was sick, which wasn't a lie at all. Regina Mills was never sick and never took sick leave, so they just believed her, although they were extremely surprised by this news. But Regina was too tired to think about anything that had nothing to do with sleep. So she just curled up next to the sleeping girl and finally fell asleep. 

The brunette woke up after lunchtime. At first, she didn't know where she was. But then she recognized the furniture and decoration of her guest room and relaxed a little. The blanket wrapped her tightly in a warm, cozy cocoon and Mills didn't want to get out of this tender and inviting warmth at all. But a soft sniff in the woman's hair made her eyes widen. The awakened consciousness immediately stated two important facts: firstly, Regina wasn't alone in bed, secondly, this someone tightly hugged her around the waist, pressed against her back, and sniffed like a child into her neck. Mills remembered all the events of the previous evening and the difficult night and were surprised that she didn't feel weakness in her body. On the contrary, her body was peaceful and full of hidden energy. 

She wanted to go downstairs and cook a light breakfast for herself and her unexpected guest. However, as soon as she moved, the hands-on her stomach pressed her harder against the warm body behind and Emma muttered something in protest, burying herself deeper in her dark tousled curls. Regina was surprised at this possessive gesture from the student. She didn't allow anyone to use her as a pillow or as a teddy bear. She herself wasn't a big hugger herself. She always moved away from Robin to the edge of the bed to avoid hugs. But with Emma, it was different. For some reason, the girl's embrace was to her liking. For a few endless minutes, Regina allowed herself to bask in the warm ring of the girl's strong arms. But then she decided to get up. After a short struggle with the sleeping woman, Mills got out of bed and hid in the master's bathroom to have a refreshing shower. After a bath time and minimal makeup, she went downstairs to the kitchen, preparing a light breakfast, trying to avoid all ingredients that might cause her night visitor another nausea. Regina wasn't sure she could handle the rest of the night before. Deciding to calm her stomach a little, which was still turning over from the mere memory of the time spent in the bathroom with her student, Regina drank a cup of strong coffee. And only then she decided to visit the sleeping girl. However, the bed in the guest room was empty. And for a moment, Regina felt a painful prick, thinking that the girl had run away again. But then, she heard the sound of water from the bathroom and realized where her guest was hiding. This means that Emma is much better since she decided to take a shower. Regina changed in her room and returned to the guest room just as the blonde left the bathroom. The girl had dark shadows under her eyes, her face was very thin and pale after a hard night, and yet she was the most beautiful girl in Regina's eyes. Mills looked at her student in fascination, at that moment for some reason completely forgetting about the taboo of any relationship with a girl that could go beyond the platonic one. Regina wanted to hug the girl and feel the warmth of her young athletic body again. But she didn't dare. She only stared at how small droplets of water from the girl's still wet hair rolled down her throat, then disappeared into the neckline of the dressing gown that the girl was wearing after taking the shower. Regina's white robe, which she had left in the guest room when Robin was still with her overnight. She didn't want to wake him up in the morning, and instead just ran into the guest room to take a shower in peace. In fact, she was just trying to avoid morning intimacy with a man in this way. But she realized this only after she kicked her former lover out of her own home. In the dark of the night, it was easier for her to surrender to the man. But in the daylight, it was harder to lie to herself and pretend to be happy. Therefore, she ran off to work even before Robin woke up. 

But now she didn't want to run away. And that was after everything she had seen and heard last night. Now she wanted to become that very small drop on the delicate pale skin of the blonde. Regina looked away so Emma couldn't see the hunger of passion and desire in her eyes. Mills was extremely embarrassed and confused. She couldn't understand why the girl acts on her in this way and why every time next to her the woman turned into an impatient teenager with raging hormones. It seems that the blonde did not have such a problem. 

And if not for their passionate kiss on that memorable evening after the restaurant, Regina might even have decided that her feelings and attraction were one-sided. But she remembered the passion of the girl, who burned her with it. But today, in Emma's eyes, the brunette only saw open curiosity and embarrassment. Well, of course, the girl had something to be embarrassed about. But it wasn't her embarrassment and shyness that Regina wanted. She wanted to make the girl her own, and with each new meeting, the woman found it more and more difficult to restrain her impulses. She wasn't accustomed to denying herself the immediate fulfillment of her desires, especially of a sexual nature. But she never has felt such strong attraction to her students, no matter how beautiful and talented they were. What was it about the blonde that attracted the woman so much and made her melt? Regina still hasn't been able to figure it out. Her attraction to the girl was more than just a desire to sleep with her, satisfying the sexual hunger. She wanted something more. More than just one nightstand. And that scared her the most. Since Daniel's death, she had never had such thoughts and desires. Yet now she was feeling so overwhelming and it was overwhelming her nervous system. 

"Regina." Mills flinched at the girl's soft voice. 

"Emma?"

"I… I would like to thank you for what you did for me. Again." Emma smiled cheekily, but her face still had an embarrassed look. “I don’t remember the events from last night. But I know for sure that it was you who took me from the bar and brought me to your home. Well, and also… I remember what happened at night and I’m very, very sorry that you had to witness such creepiness and still you took care of me." The girl blushed deeply and now preferred to stare at Regina's expensive Persian carpet on which they both stood. 

Regina was mesmerized by this childish innocent modesty and embarrassment. And suddenly Mills realized that she agreed to repeat last night with all its unpleasant moments and especially with the innocent harassment of the blonde. It was definitely worth it. Without realizing herself, she approached her student and hugged her in a strong embrace. Emma froze for a moment in the ring of her hands. However, as soon as her brain realized what was happening, she immediately responded to the hug, burying herself in the already familiar movement in the brunette's hair. Emma herself didn't understand how much she needed this hug. For her, this became a sign that Regina wasn't angry with her and wasn't going to throw her out of her house for a crackpot. Emma was ashamed of her escapade yesterday and that her professor had witnessed her "fall." Yet she didn't want to flee from the huge mansion of her teacher of international law. 

Regina was surprised at how perfectly their bodies complemented each other in this tight hug. And for some reason, Emma thought that Regina smelled delicious and that made the blonde blush even more. And she also realized that she was wearing Regina's robe, because it smelled exactly like the brunette smelled right now, apples and her own unique scent. And it has become the most intimate thing she has shared with anyone over the past few years. She remembered the passionate sweet kiss that she shared with her professor. And yet, being dressed in something that belonged to a brunette was somehow even more intimate for her than the closeness of their lips and tongues. The last time she wore something that didn't belong to her, was in her marriage to Neal, when she liked to wear his shirts in the morning, which looked like a very short dress on her. Even with Lily, she didn't share that kind of intimacy. She thought it was all like that because their relationship was banned and prohibited. But now she wasn't sure of it. And she didn't want to think about it at all. Not next to such a gorgeous woman that so anxiously held her in her arms. Emma knew almost from the start that she was attracted to the mysterious Professor Mills, who the half of the law department and the entire department of business and marketing dreamed of. But it was easy for her to fight her own infatuation because she knew that the teacher would never respond to her feelings. However, everything changed after their kiss. 

Emma realized that her sympathy and love interest were mutual. And for an endless moment, she lost control. When her lips touched those of the brunette, she gasped with a forgotten rush of passion and desire. She wanted to dissolve in another person, become one with her and for an endless moment forget about the pain that had been her faithful companion in recent years. She almost broke her own promise, which she made to herself many years ago, when her passion for another woman cost the life of her beloved son. Her past passion took away the most precious thing she had. And this she could not forgive herself for. And she never can. This is why she ran away from her professor's house that night and that's why she avoided meeting her for several weeks. 

She fled, as usual.   
Although her painful condition wasn't a lie. Although she was sick more likely emotionally than physically. And she blamed only herself for everything. She blamed herself for allowing Regina to get so close to her that she became infatuated and addicted to the woman. Emma didn't notice how she was drawn into a maelstrom of feelings and still tried with all her might to free herself from these feelings. And standing on the grave of her son, it seemed to her that she had succeeded in overcoming her obsession with the professor. 

But here she was, at Miss Mills' house, in her guest room, in her arms. And she didn't want to be anywhere else. She was torn to pieces. She wanted to be with a brunette, wanted to make love to her, to experience again what she had been looking for in the world of men for so long, but found in the arms of a woman. But on the other hand, she understood how it would turn out for her. Broken heart and loss. She will not withstand the next blow of fate. She could not betray the memory of her son. Therefore, against her own will, she freed herself from such a welcome embrace, but couldn't immediately let go of the woman. She clung to her like a lifeline, although she understood that the brunette was just that bottomless ocean in which she was drowning from their first meeting, like the Titanic after meeting a huge iceberg. 

Regina looked at her in confusion and bewilderment, not understanding what was happening to the girl. However, the question that was ready to leave her mouse, never sounded, frozen on the lips, which were touched by the lips of Emma. The girl kissed her anxiously and desperately, madly enjoying the touch of their lips and the passionate fight of their tongues. And at the same time, she understood that this kiss was their last kiss. That is why she tried to remember every touch, every agitated, broken breath. And the mad fire of desire. Because nothing of it will happen again. 

Finally, she found the strength to pull away. She immediately stepped aside so as not to succumb to temptation again. She avoided looking the woman in the eye. She knew she was dishonest, kissing the brunette so passionately as if her life depended on it. After all, it was so. So it seemed to her. And yet, they will not be together. But only if they had met then, 14 years ago. If only she had fallen in love with Regina if only Henry was their son, whom they loved and cherished dearly. However, Henry was dead, and that was her fault. Time can't be turned back. And there was no room for new love and glamor in her heart. 

"Regina. I ..." Emma cleared her throat, trying to swallow the lump in her throat. "I ... You are very dear to me. I ... I would like to know you better and become your friend. But I can't become something more for you. I'm so sorry." Emma was surprised at how flat, almost aloof, her voice sounded. As if it wasn't she who spoke, but the recording on the mailbox.   
So flat and so unemotional. 

Emma plucked up her courage and looked into Regina's eyes, shock and pain on her face. The girl's self-control wavered, she almost wanted to take her words back. But here the vulnerable expression of the brunette's face was replaced by anger, which soon was replaced by indifference and emptiness. 

"Breakfast is ready in the kitchen, there are two aspirin pills on the table. Clothes are in the dryer. I had to wash them because the smell of cigarettes and alcohol was just unbearable." The brunette's voice was monotonous, somehow alien. And even though she hurt her, Emma couldn't blame the woman for the fact that she automatically went into self-defense mode. "It's best if you leave later, Miss Swan. Just slam the door when you leave." 

With that, Regina left the guest room, trying to walk with a regal dignity that she didn't feel. All she felt now was the pain of rejection and then emptiness. But Regina knew that anger would soon come to her. Anger at herself, for allowing herself to feel again. Angry at Miss Swan for making her feel so much, for giving her hope to trample on her right now ... 

Regina grabbed the car keys and purse that still had been lying near the front door since yesterday. Then she ran out of the house, trying to escape from everything. But unable to escape from herself...


	8. Parking lot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: emotional suffering and worries.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and following this story. Happy Sunday!

Regina flinched as her phone vibrated, informing her that she had received a new message...

Usually, during classes, she turned off the gadget, not wanting to be distracted by it. She demanded the same from her students. But today she forgot to set the phone to silent mode. It's good that none of the students seemed to notice this at all. Everyone was busy with the test that the professor handed out at the beginning of the class. Regina herself marked the tests from other courses, avoiding eye contact with the inquisitive eyes opposite. The brunette has often caught Emma's eyes on herself over the past few weeks and this only made the woman even angrier. Emma had no right to look at her teacher. Well, of course, she had the right to look at anyone, to look at Professor Mills too, only she had no right to look at her the way the blonde looked at her. 

More precisely, she devoured her with her eyes. And that drove Regina into a frenzy. She did not want to see this desire and longing in the emerald gaze. The memories of the girl's refusal to have anything more than friendship were too fresh. Regina didn't want friendship. She wanted more. Everything or nothing. And since what the girl wanted to offer her was a kind of handout for her, so as not to hurt the feelings of the professor, Regina chose not to have anything to do with the blonde at all. Of course, Emma was still her student. And Regina was determined to be for her who she wanted to see a brunette as - she would be her professor. 

Regina was proud of herself. She was able to overcome her pain and anger and had an open mind towards the student, who broke her heart. Regina was about to act professionally. She wasn't going to take out her anger on the blonde. It'd not be wise if she did. She resigned herself to this decision of Emma. But she had no intention of making friends with her student. She risked a lot by starting a forbidden relationship with the blonde and was glad that fate very quickly put her in her place before she could commit a unique stupidity and confess her feelings to the girl. Such a shame and refusal Mills could not bear. In that case, she would have to move away. The best to a desert island, so as not to collide with Miss Swan and so that no one and nothing reminds her of another mistake and disappointment. 

And so everything was able to return to normal.   
Regina continued to teach, Emma continued to study hard. There were no glances from the brunette's side. She generally preferred to ignore the part of the room where the blonde was sitting. But sometimes she still had to pay attention to Emma. Of course, so as not to arouse suspicion of bias and ignorance. At such moments, Regina tried not to pay attention to the emaciated body of her student or to the deep dark circles that lay under her penetrating eyes, from which a spark of interest and curiosity gradually disappeared. 

Emma continued to prepare well for her classes, writing flawless tests and quizzes. Everything else that happened in the girl's life did not concern her in any way. Regina forbade herself to feel anything for the blonde, trapping her heart in the cold grip of indifference and disinterest. Even as a little girl, Mills learned to free herself from unnecessary feelings and emotions, locking everything deep within herself, at the very bottom of her wounded heart, where she could get with great difficulty, even if she really wanted to. Her mother was an excellent teacher. And she was right. Love is a weakness. But Regina was no longer going to be weak and vulnerable. 

Having escaped that night from Emma, she drove around the city in circles for a long time, and closer to the night she went to a bar, where she tried to drown the pain of refusal in a glass of whiskey. Somewhere on the fourth glass, someone sat down at her table. Regina had already decided to turn another careless suitor down, but when she looked up at the man sitting with her, she was surprised to recognize him as Graham. It turned out that the detective had come to the same bar as her, with the same intention. Namely, to get drunk to the point of feeling limbo. Which they did in the company of each other. And later they ended up in Regina's bed. Mills did not remember the events of that night but still threw the policeman out of her house saying that the events of the last night would not be repeated. 

But it was repeated the very next day. And then again. In the end, Regina decided to come to terms with the presence of a man in her life and with the fact that she needed him somehow. She explained her sympathy for Graham to herself by the fact that they had something in common, that they loved and lost. Daniel.  
They never spoke of Mills' dead fiancé, but Daniel was always present among them. It was easier to live with the ghosts of the past in the arms of a person who was just comfortable and safe to stay with - instead of thinking about the elusive feelings and possibilities in the person of a certain blonde. 

Regina tried not to think about Emma and her trampled feelings towards her. During the day she was distracted by her work, at night she found her escape in Graham's hands. 

More than a month passed by this way.   
Winter holidays were approaching. As well as Christmas and New Years'. 

Regina never really celebrated these international holidays. She just spent them in front of the TV, sitting by the fireplace with a glass of cider in her hand. Sometimes she went to visit Kathryn when the latter very persistently invited her friend to meet and celebrate the holidays with them. But this year, the blonde is unlikely to invite her to visit. And Regina is unlikely to agree on doing that herself. She did not want to break into their family idyll after the birth of their daughter, whom they named Alexandra. 

Mills visited the woman in labor at the hospital and attended the formal presentation of the newborn. But once Kathryn was home, Regina never saw her again. Two weeks have passed since their last meeting. 

Regina couldn't explain to herself why she didn't want to visit her only friend. She adored little Alexandra. Even though she reminded her of something that she will never have.   
Probably, she simply could not be with those who were very happy at the moment when she was deeply unhappy and miserable. She reassured herself that she simply wanted to allow her friend to spend more time with her family before she had to return to work at the university. 

But Regina twisted her heart, reassuring herself with half-truths. In fact, she was afraid that her friend would notice a shadow of unhappiness on her face and begin to bother her with questions, and ultimately, Mills would have to tell her friend about the stupidity she had done by falling in love with her student. Regina was not ready to talk to anyone about Emma and her forbidden attraction to the latter. Besides, now there was nothing to talk about. Emma and she were two opposite banks of the same river that were never destined to cross. Now she was with Graham and together they were happy, satisfied at least.. Regina even tried to get used to sleeping in the arms of the detective and it turned out to be not such an unpleasant experience. It was nice to feel the simple human warmth. And although Regina was not going to let the man close to her heart, she still took care of him in her way. She even agreed to spend the winter holidays with him in ... Alaska. 

And what was she just thinking about ???  
She was a sunny and warm-loving person and preferred to spend her holidays where there is a lot of warmth and sun. And she, without hesitation, would agree to spend a vacation in the Maldives or Bora Bora. But Alaska? In winter? 

Obviously, she lost her mind. But now it was too late to retreat. The tickets have already been purchased. She even bought warm clothes and a guidebook. And yet, every time she thought of a vacation in one of the coldest places on the planet, she had an intolerable desire to refuse and send Graham alone to this snowy island. But whenever she opened her mouth to refuse to travel, she met with the warm pleading eyes of her boyfriend, and each time she fell silent, unable to find the strength to refuse the man a trip. Graham had a small house in Alaska, which he inherited from his grandfather. And since then, the detective spent every winter vacation in Alaska, he was too attracted to these vast, cold, and dangerous snowy plains. Regina, of course, did not deny that Alaska was a beautiful place with breathtaking nature and the mystical history of each of its inhabitants. And it all looked great on the TV screen. But she was not ready to make sure of the uniqueness and beauty of this wild corner of the planet with her own hands. 

Discovery Channel had enough coverage.   
And yet, she never found the strength to say no on that to Graham. Therefore, today she will have to pack all the warm things from her wardrobe and in three days she will be on the other side of the world. She just hoped she wouldn't freeze on board of the plane. The closer the day of departure was, the more irritable she became and scolded herself for the fact that she could not decide and deny her boyfriend a snow trip. 

She unlocked the phone. A message from Graham appeared on the screen. Opening it, Regina stared at the tousled man in Mountain Parka with the broadest childish smile. Graham was just adorable in this winter jacket, in which he looked like a big teddy bear. 

Looking at the photo, Regina herself could not contain a smile, which, however, immediately faded when the professor again felt this inquisitive look on her. 

So the brunette put her phone aside and continued marking the students' work. Until the bell rang, she never raised her eyes to look over to where Emma was sitting and literally did not take her eyes off her. Once in her office, she responded to a message from Graham, sending the man a selfie with herself and glasses, that she put on the tip of her nose, just the way the man liked it. She knew that her sight in glasses turned on a man and could not resist the temptation to tempt a man in another way. 

To which she received a rather frank message about what Graham would do to her as soon as he came to her place this evening.   
Regina bit her lip in anticipation. 

She spent the rest of the day lecturing, correcting students' work in between to free up the evening to meet her boyfriend. Several times, however, she had to banish images of Emma from her head, who still haunted her, even when they were not in class or the same room. Thoughts of the blonde often popped up in her head. She often fell asleep thinking about the blonde. And it was terrible. She didn't want to think about the other person as she lay in Graham's tight arms. But sometimes her head did not agree with her on that. It's good that there were fewer and fewer such thoughts and memories about the girl. Regina firmly believed that she would be able to forget her unfortunate feeling. After all, she did everything possible to forget the girl and everything that connected them. 

It was late when she left the university, heading to the parking lot where her repaired car was parked. The parking lot is almost empty. There were only two cars in there. Regina's car and some other yellow beetle. Quite an ugly human creation. Who could ride such a little monster? Regina studied the car with interest until she realized that someone was in there. Regina could make out a shock of golden hair. Emma. The brunette unbearably wanted to walk by, get into her car and go home, where a hot night awaited her in the arms of a man who wanted to be with her and not only as a friend. But for some reason, the legs refused to obey her, and the eyes continued to examine the girl inquisitively. Even though at dusk it was almost impossible to see something, the woman was able to notice that the blonde was sitting in the car with her head resting on the steering wheel. Regina couldn't see her face, but she did not doubt that it was Emma who was sitting in the car. 

But why was she sitting in the car at such a late hour? Was she waiting for her professor?   
Regina felt her heart pinch with anger and hope. Did Emma care after all? Anger and curiosity won out.   
Regina walked briskly across the distance that separated her from the student's car and tapped urgently on the glass of the car. The girl didn't even move.

Without thinking, Mills opened the car door. Emma was really laying her head on the steering wheel, her hands gripping the wheel and breathing hard. 

Regina was immediately worried. Something was happening to the girl, something very bad.   
Regina called out to the girl affectionately, but the blonde didn’t react, continuing to breathe intermittently. Then Regina gently lifted Emma's head, forcing the girl to sit back in the seat. 

Putting away the golden curls from the student's face, Regina gasped as she saw how deathly pale the girl was. Beads of sweat glistened on her forehead, and her lips were lifeless gray. The girl herself sat with her eyes closed, continuing to breathe frequently and with fits and starts. 

"Emma, what's the matter with you?" Regina was very worried about the girl who was still sitting with her eyes closed and breathing fast. "Baby, what's going on? Is something hurting you?" 

"I'm feeling sick." The blonde whispered. "I've already vomited twice today. I think I ate something in the cafeteria that upset my stomach." 

"What did you eat today?" 

"I don't remember. Something with the fish." At the mere mention of this, the girl's face took on an unhealthy, painful shade again. 

"Come on. You need some fresh air." Regina pulled the girl out of the car. 

The girl grabbed her with both hands, like a drowning man clinging to his savior. The blonde seems to be very weak. And for some reason, it seemed to Regina that this weakness was not caused by just the present malaise. The girl looked emaciated and haggard. As if she hadn't slept or eaten for at least one week. There are deep dark circles under the eyes. Not to mention the unnatural pallor. 

What was wrong with her? 

Regina had thought about this in class.   
But her wounded pride and hurt feelings did not allow her to seriously think that something strange was really happening to Emma. But now taking care of the student has become her priority. 

Emma sat down on the curb and gratefully accepted the water bottle the professor had given her. Fresh air and a cool drink made the girl feel much better. She still wasn't sure if she could drive. But at least her stomach stopped rebelling. Most likely because nothing of what she ate today was left in it. Maybe even from yesterday. 

But she felt better. And Regina was there for her. And the expression of detachment and hostility disappeared from her face. Much to the girl's relief. She could not bear this alienation and the hidden pain of her professor. She could offer the brunette nothing more than friendship. But she was not ready to lose the woman, to whom she became much more attached than she originally thought. Regina was important to her. Very important. Emma wanted to be with her, to be a part of her life, to share with her the delights of physical intimacy. Just be with her, hold her in her arms. But she couldn't. She did not dare break the promises she made to her son. Otherwise, she will hate herself even more. Emma saw the question in the beautiful eyes of her professor, she was drowning in this warm chocolate. Why didn't they meet 14 years ago? Emma thought, dying from the desire to touch the brunette. Just to touch and to feel the tenderness of her skin, her warmth, and tenderness. But she didn't dare.   
Instead, she took another swig from the bottle and closed her eyes, feeling the cool liquid slide down her throat and fill her upset stomach. The girl hoped that she no longer had to throw up today. It is unlikely that she will withstand another attack of nausea and vomiting. 

Regina said nothing. She just quietly sat down next to her, looking at the sky, where the first stars began to appear. Soon, the entire heavenly veil will be beautifully strewn with these glowing bright dots. 

Emma didn't want to be anywhere else, only here, next to Regina. Just sitting here with a woman, looking at the stars, maybe making one or two wishes. And just enjoy the peace of the night. Peace. How she would like to experience this feeling again. She only felt that light, long-forgotten feeling - as she slept in Regina's arms. 

She would like to remain forever in her strong safe hands. But she didn't deserve this comfort. And that was her decision. Her punishment ...

For a while they just sat side by side, not saying a single word. Emma was oblivious to the cold that was slowly shaking her body. Regina had forgotten that Graham was waiting for her at home. It was so easy to forget about everything, just being close to each other...

But the reality still managed to break into their little peaceful world. A call to Regina's cell broke the silence of the night. Graham called. 

Emma was annoyed by the softness in Regina's voice when she spoke to the caller. What did she expect? That Regina would wait for her forever? A woman like Regina will never be alone. Some too many people want to be with her. And Emma could not blame the woman for choosing to continue with her life without her. They weren't even connected anymore. Regina was her professor, Emma was her student.   
Regina didn't want her friendship. And Emma would never offer her that again. 

She did not want to languish next to the brunette and torment herself with the desires of what she so wanted to have, but there was no way to get it. 

In the end, Regina left after Emma assured her that she was already much better. After all, it was so. At least physically. She had long been accustomed to mental anguish. Therefore, she could easily smile with her best fake smile, which did not touch her eyes. But it was too dark in the parking lot for the professor to notice the falseness of that grin. Besides, she was probably in a hurry to see her boyfriend. The latter made Emma's stomach twist in a painful spasm. 

Emma took another sip from the bottle and forced herself into the car. Night has come. She needed to get home. Not that anyone there was waiting for her there. It would just be nice to be away from this place, where everything was so reminiscent of Regina. 

Returning home, she collapsed onto the bed, not even bothering to undress and dress in something more suitable for sleeping. What for? She still knew that she would wake up in a few hours, haunted by nightmares from her past. And spend another sleepless night in front of the computer. 

Nightmares began to haunt her again after meeting Regina, who was able to make the girl feel again. And she felt. There were too many painful feelings in there. And now every night she tried to force herself to stop thinking and feeling. Otherwise, she will have to run away again. What a pity that it was impossible to escape from herself and her ghosts of the past. 

What's a pity...


End file.
